UPCOMING SCHEDULED LOTTE MEYERSON TIKKUN OLAM PROJECTS:

• • 1^st Friday each month from 1-3 PM @ MANNA– CBHT volunteer team. Contact Sandra Layton to help.
  • 3^rd Friday each month @ noon – CBHT Vets shelter meal serving. Contact Hilary Paradise to help.
  • July 14^th –21^st --- RITI—Contact Sherrill Zoller, RITI liaison for CBHT, zbirdlady@relloz.com, for information.
  • Monday, August 26^th @ 4:30pm- next L.M.Tikkun Olam meeting

TIKKUN OLAM SHABBAT 

HONORING OUR TEENS AND LIFE-LONG SERVICE AWARD

By Vivian Ellner

The Lotte Meyerson Tikkun Olam Committee seeks to recognize and celebrate individuals and groups who participate in Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.  This includes B’nai Mitzvot and their mitzvah projects, the religious school students and their support of various agencies and an individual who has had a lifelong commitment to this Jewish value.  These projects have ranged from helping to provide meals and school assistance to children in Africa; Nachama-the Jewish response to disasters; the Asheville Humane Society; Doctors Without Borders; local trail clean up and maintenance; Bounty & Soul, providing fresh fruit and vegetables to people in need; Verner Center for Early Learning, creating book packs for children with little or no access to books or libraries; Love Thy Neighbor, collecting school supplies; Brother Wolf, raising money and volunteering at the local no-kill animal shelter.

The LMTO Lifetime Award has gone this year to Sherrill Zoller, who has participated in many Tikkun Olam activities, from Homeward Bound / Room in the Inn to fighting for voter rights and voter registration, Moral Monday and Habitat for Humanity, as well as serving as co-chair of the LMTO Committee for many years.

Congratulations to all for your commitment to the world and its people.

BOOK COLLECTION 

By Martin Mann

The smile on his face said it all.  The four-year-old African-American child had just picked out a book to take home and keep.  He even had his name written on the book plate inside of the front cover.  “I can really take this book home?”  “Yes” came the reply.  A huge hug followed.

This is what it is like to be the giver of books, representing Congregation Beth HaTephila at the Pisgah View Head Start preschool.  The books are given to these children half-way and at the end of each school year at what are called Book Shares.  This is also what it is like to volunteer in a classroom at this Head Start.  If you are interested in helping for the 2019-20 school year, please let Marty Mann know.

But even if you are unable to volunteer, you can still do your part in the Tikkun Olam Committee’s support of the three classrooms at Pisgah View Apartments.  This Rosh Hashanah is the committee’s every other year children’s book collection.  Since 2011 congregants have donated over 5000 new or lightly used children’s picture books appropriate for 3-5-year olds.  Cash donations to the Tikkun Olam Committee have also been contributed to purchase new or used books to give away.

So be looking for the reminder in the August Menorah of when and where you can drop off your children’s book donation.  Start boxing up any books that are no longer needed by your own children.  Visit your favorite bookstore this summer.  Reminder: Please make sure if the book(s) are lightly used that it hasn’t been written in, have torn pages, etc.  Let’s continue to put smiles on the faces of these children and promote the love of reading.

UPCOMING SCHEDULED LOTTE MEYERSON TIKKUN OLAM PROJECTS:

• 1st Friday each month from 1-3 PM @ MANNA– CBHT volunteer team. Contact Sandra Layton to help.
• 3rd Friday each month @ noon – CBHT Vets shelter meal serving. Contact Hilary Paradise to help.
• Monday, April 29th @ 4:30 PM—next L.M. Tikkun Olam meeting.
• Friday, May 24th, @ 7:30 PM—Tikkun Olam Shabbat
• Our next RITI host week will take place at CBHT July 14th - July 21st.  To volunteer or for more information, Contact Sherrill Zoller, RITI liaison for CBHT.

Lotte Meyerson Tikkun Olam Committee Updates

Tikkun Olam Shabbat Friday, May 24th Honoring our Teens and Life-Long Service Award.

Please come celebrate with us at our special service during which we will recognize our B’nai Mitzvah students for their mitzvah projects. The B’nai Mitzvah students honored for 2018-19 will be

Homeward Bound: the key to ending homelessness in Buncombe County.

Homeward Bound is a non-profit organization which has worked for 30 years to end homelessness in our area. Since its inception, more than 2,000 individuals have been housed and 89% have not returned to homelessness. We participate in

Holocaust Education Bill

(Please note: The status of this bill may have changed since this article was written on April 10, 2019. ) The North Carolina House of Representatives is currently considering House Bill 437 introduced by Linda Johnson of Cabarrus County, along with bi-partisan co-sponsors including Susan Fisher of Asheville, which will require all middle and high school public school students be taught about the Holocaust and genocide along with other related concepts. The bill has passed the Education Committee unanimously without any changes to how it was originally introduced.

As of April 10th, the status of the bill was as follows