When Andy Harkavy asked me to consider becoming a TriBE leader, I had mixed feelings. I know I’ve always wanted to get involved with something at TBE, but I’d never come across the right opportunity for me. I couldn’t really think of a topic that would interest me, but I had an idea fly into […]
Community Organizing Core Team: Congregants who have been trained in organizing; focus on visioning & leadership development. Interested in joining? Please email lisatzedek@gmail.com. Issue Teams: Criminal Justice Issue Team – Held first Fair Driving Clinic in early 2020 (15+ TBE volunteers, 7 clients), held a clinic via phone in July (10 TBE volunteers, 15 clients). […]
Dear Friends, Temple Beth El’s Clergy, Staff, and Board have been vigilant about upholding Judaism’s highest priorities of sustaining life and health during COVID-19. Through phone trees, Zoom social gatherings, online worship, education, and community offerings, you have warmly embraced and supported each other through this pandemic. We thank you for supporting Temple with your […]
Dear Temple Beth El and Temple Israel, Over seventy years ago, our congregations were approached by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to support the placement of a monument dedicated to Judah P. Benjamin, a Southerner and a Jew, who played an important role in the Confederacy. While our respective Boards voted to participate, there […]
Dear Temple Beth El Family, The coronavirus pandemic has magnified and exacerbated the inequalities in our society. While we are in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat. The stark contrast between armed white militia safely protesting in a capitol building and unarmed black men and women being killed highlights the […]
Resources to Watch, Read, Listen, & Notice Watch This is Us – Dr. Eddie Glaude explains why blaming current racial tensions on Donald Trump misses the point. (3 minutes) Racism is Real – A split-screen video depicting the differential in the white and black lived experience. (3 minutes) Confronting ‘intergroup anxiety’: Can you try too […]
In addition to participating in the various Mitzvah Day projects taking place at home this year, we invite you to make a donation to any of the agencies we partner with annually, listed below. The following agencies will also be receiving monetary donations from generous congregants and funds collected in advance for Mitzvah Day: Jewish […]
My grandmother, Erika, who I called “Nana,” was born in Vienna, Austria in 1924. She was a survivor of both the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps and passed away in September of 2013, just shy of her 89th birthday. There are so many questions I wish I had asked her. Then 23, I was certainly […]
When my family first joined Temple Beth El in 2011, I was shy, apprehensive, and an overall introvert. Beginning religious school in the middle of the year, along with a new elementary school, was a difficult adjustment for me. I remember having a hard time making friends and becoming accustomed to life in Charlotte. Fast […]