Holiday social action project slated
Havurat Tikvah will again participate in Friendship Trays on Dec. 24.
Members and friends will help the organization prepare, pack and deliver meals to clients of Friendship Trays.
To volunteer, email Volunteer Coordinator Lani Lawrence at llawrence@friendship trays.org or call 704.970.4842.
The organization is located at 2401-A Distribution St. off Remount Rd.
For more information and/or to alert the havurah coordinator, call Brian Feinglass at 704-737-2814 or email bcfein1@gmail.com.
Havurat Tikvah to participate in Room in the Inn
Havurat Tikvah will assist Avondale Presbyterian Church, 2821 Park Rd., with their Room in the Inn social action initiative on Jan. 28, Feb. 18 and March 18 in 2014.
Volunteer members will provide the evening meal preparation and service.
The congregation has been a steady volunteer since it began leasing from the church a couple of years ago.
Under Brian Feinglass’s leadership, members have helped to get the facility ready for visitors, as well as preparing dinner and bagged lunches and more.
To participate with Havurat Tikvah on its slated dates, call Brian at 704-737-2814 or email bcfein1@gmail.com.
Of course, there are more days to lend a hand. To sign up for additional slots, visit SignUpGenius.com/go/
Community concert slated
The Charlotte Pride Band will perform it’s winter concert on Dec. 15, 3 p.m., at Temple Beth El, 5101 Providence Rd.
The program will feature seasonal favorites performed by small ensembles of Charlotte Pride Band including the jazz band, woodwind quintet, brass quintet, clarinet choir, sax ensemble, brass choir, trumpet choir, and trombone quartet.
The band is partnering with Temple Beth El in its support to the Freedom School Partners and Sterling Elementary School.
Freedom School, with headquarters at 1030 Arosa Ave., prepares children for success through summer literacy programs, led by college student role models in collaboration with community partners.Preparing children for success through summer literacy programs, led by college student role models in collaboration with community partners. Locations are scattered throughout Mecklenburg County.
Sterling Elementary, 9601 China Grove Church Rd., Pineville, NC, is a K-5 paideia academy facility. It seeks to Empower Students, Engage Community, Ignite Passion and Respect All.
Attendees are encouraged to bring contributions to the event.
The list includes:
Snacks for Sterling Elementary School
Cheerios
Animal crackers
Fruit snacks
Goldfish/cheddar crackers
Fruit cups
Graham crackers
Cheese puffs
8 oz. bottles of water
Vanilla wafers
Fruit Loops
Apple Jacks
Corn Pops
Kix
Microwave popcorn
School supplies for Freedom School –
Crayons
Pencils
Markers
Scissors
Glue sticks
Copy paper
Charlotte Pride Band, which began in 2010, provides an open, inviting environment for musicians of all ability levels while promoting the value and respect of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Charlotte metropolitan area through quality musical performances.
Admission is free.
info: charlotteprideband.org. beth-el.com.
RRC elects new prez
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., has been elected as the new president of the Reconstuctionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in Philadelphia, Penn. She takes office on Jan. 1, 2014.
She is considered to be the first woman to hold a post of this nature for a Jewish congregational union.
She has a deep commitment to the Jewish Reconstructionist Movement (JRM), from her time as a student and up through her service more recently as vice president. She was also on deck for the strategic plan to merge the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation with the rabbinical college.
She brings an inclusive vision to her tenure.
Waxman, a historian of American Judaism, brings to the fore a vision that emphasizes relevance and pluralism. She believes that in the 21st century, as Jewish people choose from a vast array of spiritual, religious and cultural sources to construct their identities, Reconstructionist Judaism offers a distinctive way toward meaning and connection. She also is interested in fostering a more robust presence for all progressive religions in the public square.
Waxman brings particular expertise in strategic planning. In her previous work as RRC’s vice president for governance (2003 to 2013), she played a central role in creating RRC’s first-ever such initiative as well as its first institution-wide assessment plan. In winter 2014, along with a team of Reconstructionist movement leaders, she will move forward another first — a strategic plan for RRC as a combined organization, which trains Jewish leaders and also provides services to congregations.
Waxman also is a strong fundraiser. Her grant proposals have won support from leading funders such as the Kresge Foundation, Wexner Foundation and Cummings Foundation; and she has cultivated and stewarded major individual donors for RRC.
As vice president, she staffed the organization’s board of more than 40 members and 13 committees — setting mandates and evaluating impact — and was key in the successful integration of the rabbinical college and the congregational union in June 2012. She led RRC’s academic accreditation work as well; she chaired self-study and review processes to demonstrate the College’s compliance with required standards.
Her academic presentations include “Reconstructing Religious Authority in a Democratic Context: Early Reconstructionist Approaches and their Contemporary Resonances,” for the Association for Jewish Studies Conference in December 2011. At the 2013 conference, she will participate in a round table discussion titled “Mordecai M. Kaplan Reconsidered: The Meaning and Significance of His Legacy for Our Time.” She has presented frequently for lay audiences as well; most recently she taught on the subject “Rejecting Chosenness — An Exploration.” She has received a number of academic honors, including the Ruth Fein Prize given by the American Jewish Historical Society. She serves on the society’s academic council.
Waxman has sat on the faculty of RRC, teaching courses on Reconstructionist Judaism and practical rabbinics. From 2002 to 2012, she served as High Holiday rabbi for Congregation Bet Havarim in Fayetteville, NY.
Her published articles include “‘A Lady Sometimes Blows the Shofar’: Women’s Religious Equality in the Postwar Reconstructionist Movement” in A Jewish Feminine Mystique?: Jewish Women in Postwar America (Rutgers University Press, 2010), “Distinctiveness and Universalism: How to Remain Jewish if Jewish Isn’t Better” (Zeek, fall 2010); “The Challenge of Implementing Reconstructionism: Art, Ideology and the Society for the Advancement of Judaism’s Sanctuary Mural,” co-authored with Joyce Norden (American Jewish History, September 2009), and a review of the National Museum of American Jewish History for Pennsylvania History (winter 2012).
Waxman graduated cum laude from Columbia College, Columbia University, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received rabbinical ordination and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from RRC in 1999. She studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as both an undergraduate and graduate student, and received a Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowship to support her graduate work. She earned a Ph.D. in American Jewish History from Temple University in May 2010; her dissertation was titled “Faith and Ethnicity in American Judaism: Reconstructionism as Ideology and Institution, 1935–1959.”
To hear her acceptance remarks, click below:
To hear about her vision, click below:
info: 215.576.0800, ext. 129. officeofthepresident@rrc.edu.