Posts Tagged ‘Charlotte Judaism’

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Parent: “I hated Hebrew School, You’ll Hate Hebrew School and That’s Just the Way it is!

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

After my first year as the Rabbi of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation in Davidson, North Carolina, a parent came up to me and said: “Rabbi, I don’t know what my child’s teacher is doing, but my kid actually wants to come to Hebrew school.”  He went on to explain that he remembered his father saying the following to him: “I hated Hebrew school, you’ll hate Hebrew school, and that is just the way it is.”  He thought that he too would be put in the position of saying those same dreadful words to his child.  Luckily, Jewish education, and the school program at the LNJC, has broken that circle of religious education misery.

I strongly believe that Jewish education should inspire wonder about, and joy for Judaism.  This drives our school program. I am so proud of both our congregation but also the wider Jewish community in the Lake Norman and Charlotte region for their dedication to this vision.

The LNJC religious school is kicking off immediately before the 2nd annual “Shalom Lake Norman Jewish Festival” in order to maximize participation in the exceptional event planned by the Jewish Council of Lake Norman, which  is made up of the 5 Jewish organizations at the Lake.

The kick-off and festival is an opportunity to frame the whole year of Jewish learning in a “funJewcational ” (Fun + educational) way for all of our children. This is exactly what we are supposed to be doing as teachers of the next generation; inspiring our children to be thoughtful and engaged questioners and seekers.

I hope that everyone takes the opportunity to attend the Jewish festival. Tireless volunteers have spent countless hours planning every aspect of the Festival and it will be a fabulous event for the young, young-at-heart, and everyone in between.

An Early Shabbat Shalom Lake Norman,

-Rabbi Michael Shields

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July 23? or something more?

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

July 23 was a day like any other.  The temperature was already eighty degrees by 9am; and by noon it was 95.  My shirt began to stick to my body in the 30 feet from my front door to my car, and my tomato plants were already withering from the solar assault.  An iced coffee from Summit and my air conditioned office called to me like a siren.  It seemed like just another hot and sticky North Carolina summer day.

But after I got my cool coffee creation and found the comfort of my office chair, I realized that July 23 was not just any day, it was Friday, and that meant Shabbat was coming.

I pulled my sermon notebook from the top drawer of my desk and reviewed the sermon I had written earlier in the week. I began to hum the melodies we would use that evening to welcome the Shabbat.  I prepared some children’s activities for “Shabbat Kids,” our pre-service learning and singing time, and thought of what joy gathering as a Jewish community can bring.

Children sat on the special alphabet mat while singing the “Shabbat Dinosaur Song” and multiple rounds of Bim Bam.  Adults peppered me with questions about the different sections of the service, and together we learned two new melodies for Shabbat, and one melody that will make an appearance during the High Holy Days.  As a community we learned, we prayed, we greeted old friends and welcomed new ones, and of course after the service, we ate.

It was Shabbat and we were happy!

What an exciting time to be Jewish in Lake Norman:

-6 new families have joined us in just the past few weeks.

-We will be adding 4-6 new preschoolers and 8-10 new students to our religious school.

-We have hired a school principal

-We will have a teaching corp of at least 10 teachers.  4 of our teachers are Davidson College students and 6 are trained teachers.  We are going to be blessed with at least 15 adult volunteers and 6 madrichim (post-bnei Mitzvah teacher aides)

-We plan to have at least 3 major cultural/musical/educational events stopping at the congregation from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

-We continue to take important steps towards making a permanent home a reality in the near future.

I feel so lucky to be the Rabbi in Lake Norman and look forward to many more years of sacred covenant with the LNJC.

Shalom Lake Norman,

Rabbi Michael Shields

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The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation Continues to Thrive

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It is with great excitement and anticipation that I bring you the news that the congregation has hired Kristine Mahoney to a 3 year contract as our Religious School Director.  Ms. Mahoney has a Masters degree in Education and brings a wealth of experience to the position.

Our congregation has grown from just 6 families in 2006 to more than 115 families today. In 2008 I was blessed to be brought to this community as the first full-time Rabbi in the Lake Norman region.

The hiring of Ms. Mahoney is an important step on our path of continued success.  The explosive growth of our congregation and our desire to continue providing an exceptional educational experience for our children led us to hire Kristine Mahoney.  With 72 students this past year and more than 80 students projected for the upcoming year, Ms. Mahoney will make it possible for the congregation to maintain the excellence we have achieved to date and enhance and expand our educational programming for children and adults. Moreover, she will serve as a pivotal partner for me as the Rabbi in curricular and programmatic development. We are thrilled to have her on board.

We continue to implement and refine our strategic plan.  Our vision drives our programming, and as our vision gets even more vibrant, so too does our programming.

Shalom Lake Norman!

-Rabbi Michael Shields

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Holocaust Remembrance in Davidson, NC

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance

I had the honor of attending and participating in a Holocaust Remembrance ceremony organized by Beth Shalom of Lake Norman and their interfaith partners, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church.  Beth Shalom’s Rabbinical Intern, Corey Helfand, made the journey from New York City to facilitate the Holocaust Remembrance ceremony and Executive Vice President of Beth Shalom, Len Sadek, among others, put in an extraordinary amount of work to make the event happen.

Dr. Susan Spatz, a Professor Emerita at UNC Charlotte, spoke about her three years as a prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau. She left us with her chilling memories that help make real an experience for millions that is almost impossible to imagine.

Dr. Spatz speaks about her experience so we do not forget. With each passing day, our responsibility for telling the story of the Shoah grows as survivors wither and fade. Soon, they will be gone and all that will be left will be their stories. We must become their storytellers; for our own people and the rest of the world.

Below are the selections from Megillat HaShoah (The Shoah Scroll) that I read:

So much have I seen and so much have I yet to see, but what was revealed to me there I never could see again. All of the words in the world, created and yet to be created, in every single language, will never be able to describe even a small part of what was displayed before my eyes. And this too do I know: Never will I be able to forget, and never will I have the power to understand….

For all these do I weep, for infants who never learned to say, “Mommy,” for boys and girls whose youth was stolen from them, who withered before coming to blossom; for young men and women who were never blessed beneath the wedding canopy, for the elderly denied the privilege of a gracious old age; for the orchestras and for the music, and for all the world’s beauty whose rainbow of colors was lost, replaced by only brown and gray and black. For all these do I weep.

I struggled so hard before the veiled curtain, before the merciful and gracious One, of great kindness and truth. How I pled and how I begged, how I wanted to understand. Was all of this known on high? Was this the decree of God who is filled with compassion? This was the reward of such a nation? But there was no sound, and no response, only an exasperating silence. The Most High abides in secret, God dwells in the shadow of silence. Deep, hidden, and awesome are the events; no one understands them, not even echoes of the heavenly voice….

Time will tell what we have learned; only time will reveal whether we truly have listened to the voice fo the blood of the slaughtered crying out from the earth.

Do not mourn too much, but do not sink into the

forgetfulness of apathy. Do not allow days of darkness

to return; weep, but wipe the tears away.

Do not absolve and do not exonerate,

Do not attempt to understand.

Learn to live without an answer.

Through our blood, live!

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Judaism and Drinking (Printed in Cornelius Today)

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Judaism is not against the consumption of alcohol. Wine has served an important symbolic function within Jewish tradition for thousands of years, and every Friday evening Jews bless God thanking her for the fruit of the vine. The ‘everything in moderation’ rule is applied as the great Jewish thinker Maimonides wrote: Keeping the body fit and healthy is part of serving God, for it is impossible to know and understand anything of the Creator’s will if one is ill. Therefore a person should avoid whatever undermines bodily health.

A warning against alcohol abuse can be found in Proverbs 23:18 — Show me someone who drinks too much, who has tried to cut out some new drink, and I will show you someone miserable and sorry for himself. … His eyes are bloodshot and he has bruises that could have been avoided. Don’t let wine tempt you. The next morning you will feel as though you have been bitten by a poisonous snake.

• The use of intoxicants (alcohol) and drugs is not forbidden in Judaism.

• Wine is an important symbol of God providing for his chosen people.

• The importance of moderation is emphasized.

• Abuse of drugs or intoxicants is frowned upon and is ultimately a rejection of the gift of life.”

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Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day (Progressive/Reform and Conservative Jews come together with their neighbors)

Sunday, April 11th, 2010
The program will be held at St. Albans Episcopal Church in Davidson on Sunday, April 18th
The doors will open at 2:45 PM with music and an original art display of Holocaust images by Aron
Lebedinsky
The program begins at 3:00 with a candle lighting ceremony and brief opening comments from Rabbi
Corey Helfand.
This is the 3rd annual Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance program. It is presented by Beth
Shalom of Lake Norman and interfaith partner, St. Albans Episcopal Church
The guest speaker will be Dr. Susan Spatz. Dr. Spatz is a Professor Emerita at UNCC, Charlotte and
lectures on Holocaust literature and history. She has lectured overseas and has authored books and
articles on the Holocaust. Dr. Spatz spent three years fighting for her life as a Jewish prisoner in
Concentration Camps during the Holocaust Despite the pain and suffering that Dr. Spatz experienced
during the Holocaust, she has vowed to never forget. She said she thinks it is important to share her
story to all ages, but she focuses on today’s youth because they are the ones who will keep the
Holocaust from becoming a forgotten memory.
There will be time for questions after her presentation

On Sunday April 18th at 2:45pm at St. Albans Episcopal Church in Davidson, the Jewish community at Lake Norman is gathering to mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day with our neighbors.

The doors will open at 2:45 PM with music and an original art display of Holocaust images by Aron Lebedinsky. The program begins at 3:00 with a candle lighting ceremony and brief opening comments from rabbinical intern, Corey Helfand of Beth Shalom, and Rabbi Michael Shields of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Susan Spatz. Dr. Spatz is a Professor Emerita at UNCC, Charlotte and lectures on Holocaust literature and history. She has lectured overseas and has authored books and articles on the Holocaust. Dr. Spatz spent three years fighting for her life as a Jewish prisoner in Concentration Camps during the Holocaust Despite the pain and suffering that Dr. Spatz experienced during the Holocaust, she has vowed to never forget. She said she thinks it is important to share her story to all ages, but she focuses on today’s youth because they are the ones who will keep the Holocaust from becoming a forgotten memory.

Commemorating those lost in the Holocaust is a sacred obligation of our Jewish community. As the full-time Rabbinical presence in the Lake Norman region, I would like to thank our Conservative brothers and sisters at Beth Shalom for taking the lead in organizing this event.

As I have said in the past, it is a blessing to have the diversity in the Jewish community at the Lake; the conservative/more traditional presence of Beth Shalom and the Progressive/Reform presence of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation. I look forward to welcoming the future student rabbis from Jewish Theological Seminary who journey down to Davidson one weekend every month to further their education and serve the Conservative Movement.

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From http://urj.org/holidays/hashoah/

Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, occurs on the 27th of Nissan. Shoah, which means catastrophe or utter destruction in Hebrew, refers to the atrocities that were committed against the Jewish people during World War II. This is a memorial day for those who died in the Shoah.

The Shoah (also known as the Holocaust, from a Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire,”) was initiated by the members of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, which seized power in Germany in 1933. The Nazis believed in a doctrine of racial superiority, centering around the idea that that people of Northern European descent were somehow better than members of all other races – especially the Jews, who were “unworthy of life.”

After taking power, the Nazis gradually restricted the rights of German Jewish citizens and encouraged their followers to commit acts of violence and destruction against Jews and their property. During World War II (1939-1945), the Nazis implemented their “final solution,” a plan to concentrate and annihilate all European Jews. Jews were first crammed together in ghettoes and slave-labor camps, where disease, brutality, and malnutrition ran rampant. Eventually, they were sent to death camps, where millions were murdered in special facilities designed to kill a tremendous number of people over a brief period of time. In addition to the six million Jews who died – two-thirds of the European Jewish population – the Nazis also killed millions of others, including Roma (Gypsies) and Slavs, political and religious dissidents, the handicapped, and gays and lesbians.

Today, many commemorate Yom HaShoah by lighting yellow candles in order to keep the memories of the victims alive. The National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods co-sponsors such a program; you can find out more on their website. Most synagogues and Jewish communities gather together to commemorate the day through worship, music and the stories from survivors.

Other Holocaust Websites:

Yad Vashem: The Jewish People’s Living Memorial to the Holocaust - http://www.yadvashem.org/

United States Holocaust Museum - http://www.ushmm.org/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36337443/ns/health-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/04/09/holocaust.memorial.day/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9705/04/briefs/yom.hashoah.index.html?iref=allsearch

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Moving from a mentality of Survival to one of Empowerment

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

In the book, Empowered Judaism by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Rabbi Kaunfer posits that the real crisis is one of meaning and engagement.  Jews and their family members, whether Jewish or not, often find it difficult to connect to the community, Torah, Jewish practice or values.  As Kaunfer writes: “They are dependent on others to translate Judaism for them, and they trudge to High Holy Day services to receive the requisite “be good!” sermons, only to return to their lives unchallenged and unchanged. They have been sold a world in which Judaism is a bunch of platitudes, at best matching their existing modern liberal values (but adding nothing beyond what they already know), and at worst completely irrelevant to the struggles they experience day to day. Who can blame these Jews for disengaging with Judaism?” (p. 157)

Rabbi Kaunfer rightly points out that people want deep meaning and connection, “but they move through life thinking of Judaism’s contribution to the world as Seinfeld and guilt.  Many would be shocked to find out that Judaism has vigorous debates about the most central existential problems facing people today.” (p. 158)

Over the next months and years, our community (The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation) will make defining choices that will determine whether we will be a community that seeks to uncover the power and mystery of tradition firsthand, or one that embraces the superficial platitudes that dominate many liberal Jewish congregations.

When we refuse to undersell and water down our Judaism and instead reinvigorate it by building a more educated, more engaged, more inspired, we will recognize that a new Jewish world is possible. We will have the imagination and vision to move beyond a simplistic and anemic “survival” mentality to an Empowered Judaism.

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Transforming Committees into Teams – Community Vision and Attitude

Monday, April 5th, 2010

(adapted from Empowered Judaism by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer)

The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation (www.lakenormanjc.org) is developing this collaborative model of leadership. It will help us develop into a dynamic, flexible, and inspirational community.

I hope community members will read the following and consider it seriously as we continue to build and grow.

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Expanding organizations need a broader group of committed volunteers to carry out the many tasks of organizing our community. To expand the leadership and create a pipeline for future gabbaim and other key leaders, a layer needs to be added to the structure – A Leadership Team. (Everything should be called a team rather than a committee…After all, no one likes committee meetings, but everyone wants to be part of the team!)

To join the Leadership Team, people didn’t simply opt in. They were asked to apply. This was in some ways heresy (”How can you ask people who aren’t be paid to apply for a volunteer job in their own community?”), but we wanted (want) people to take their volunteer role seriously, and if they couldn’t (can’t) commit to writing something about their goals, then they might not be right for the job.  We asked them two questions on the “application”:  1) What is your vision for the organization?  and 2) In what ways could our congregation be improved?  Though we almost never (will never) rejected an application, the process served to elevate the status of the volunteer job and make it something people had to seek out and exert some effort to acquire.

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Passover at Lake Norman

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

The Jewish People gather every year at this time to remember and relive the story of our people, the Exodus from Egypt. The message of this story is that oppression wherever it rears its head can and must end.  Through a sacred partnership with God, individuals and communities can redeem the world. The Exodus story hopefully inspires us to vision of the world as it might yet look and work towards that vision every day.

This past Monday and Tuesday more than 260 people gathered for Passover. On Monday, nearly all of the 75 Jewish students at Davidson College gathered together with friends, faculty, staff, and honored guests to welcome the Festival of Matzot.  It would have been unthinkable 10 years ago that 130 people would gather on the Davidson College campus for a Passover Seder.  It reflects the increasing diversity at the College and the significant growth of the Jewish population at Davidson.

On Tuesday, more than 120 people celebrated Passover with the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation (www.lakenormanjc.org).  90 adults and 36 children of all ages prayed, sang, laughed, and of course ate together as they commemorated the sacred story of the Jewish People. This community seder reflects the dramatic growth in the Jewish community over the past three years. The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation has grown from 55 families to nearly 120 families.  Our school has grown from 25 students to more than 75 students.  We are truly blessed.

I hope all will feel welcome to join me in marking the end of Passover with Pizza and Pilsners with Rabbi Shields” at the Brickhouse in Davidson (209 Delburg St.) on Tuesday October 6 at 8pm.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=365517053815&ref=ts

All are welcome!

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The Reform Congregation of Lake Norman

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

I feel so lucky to be the full-time rabbi of the Reform Congregation in Lake Norman (www.lakenormanjc.org) but also to be a part of a community in the Lake Norman region that is blessed with a liberal/Reform and a conservative choice.

If one is a Conservative Jew, Beth Shalom of Lake Norman can provide an intimate setting in which more traditional and ritually conservative Jews can connect and find support in navigating the ins and outs of Conservative Judaism (dietary laws, halakhah, t’fillin, mikveh, etc.)

Our Reform/liberal Congregation (as written in the Movement’s Statement of Principles) enables  the Jewish People and individuals to embrace “innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.”

Reform Judaism recognizes the realities that Jews face in the 21st century, and seeks to facilitate authentic connection with Jewish culture, religion, and tradition.  Reform Judaism helps individuals and families as they strive for religious meaning, moral purpose and a sense of community.

See the following link for the full “Statement of Principles of the Reform Movement” adopted in Pittsburgh in 1999.

http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=44&pge_prg_id=4687&pge_id=1656

An Excerpt from “A Commentary on the Principles of Reform Judaism”

The rise in mixed marriage and the embrace of Jews of patrilineal descent (children of one Jewish parent who were raised as Jews) had changed the demographics of the Reform Movement, contributing to a growing desire for increased learning, spiritual expression, and guidelines for Reform ideology. Women’s increased influence in the Movement (from three women ordained in 1976 the number had grown to over 250 by 1999) had changed much of the language and approach of Reform, and the Movement had pioneered in opening doors of Jewish life (including ordination) to gay and lesbian Jews.

Reform Judaism is moving forward and can lead the way in revitalizing Judaism in the 21st century.

Reform Judaism is committed to:

The complete equality of women and men in Jewish life.

Reaching out to all Jews across ideological and geographical boundaries.

Inclusivity: providing a home for all who seek a Jewish experience.  Our movement is enriched by those who choose to convert to Judaism and the non-Jewish partners raising Jewish children.

For the full text see:  http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=45&pge_prg_id=4687&pge_id=1656

I look forward to the months and years ahead as we build a vibrant Jewish congregation, with a home of our own, in the Lake Norman and North Charlotte region.  Join us on this adventure: www.lakenormanjc.org.

If you are looking for a conservative congregation Beth Shalom of Lake Norman is a loving and warm congregation: www.bslkn.org


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