UPCOMING SCHEDULED LOTTE MEYERSON TIKKUN OLAM PROJECTS:

1^st Friday each month from 1-3 PM @ MANNA– CBHT volunteer team. Contact Wendy Capelouto to help.

3^rd Friday each month @ noon – CBHT Vets shelter meal serving. Contact Hilary Paradise to help. Monday, November 30^th – 4:30 PM, Next L.M. Tikkun Olam Meeting

600+ Jewish Organizations and Synagogues say: Black Lives Matter

CBHT has joined with groups ranging from small congregations to the three major Jewish denominations (Union of Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association), which collectively represent more than half of all Jewish people in America, to issue the statement below which will soon be printed in a national newspaper.

We are Jewish organizations and synagogues from across the racial and political spectrum, from different streams of Judaism, whose members trace their lineage from countries around the world.  We speak with one voice when we say, unequivocally: Black Lives Matter.  We support the Black-led movement in this country that is calling for accountability and transparency from the government and law enforcement.  We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us.

There are politicians and political movements in this country who build power by deliberately manufacturing fear to divide us against each other.  All too often, antisemitism is at the center of these manufactured divisions.  There is a long history to these attempts: during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, conspiracy theories were used by white supremacists attempting to delegitimize the extraordinary organizing of Black activists.  Billboards were erected smearing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a communist, signs and flyers claiming that “communist Jews” were masterminding the civil rights movement were common, and pro-segregation organizations like the John Birch Society popularized these lies.

Black Lives Matter, the recent uprisings across the globe in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others, and the decades of political organizing across the country that have led to this moment are movements led by and for Black people.  We see through any attempt to suggest otherwise by pointing fingers, scapegoating, or using anti-Semitic dog whistles.

As Jews, we know how dangerous this is: when politicians target Jewish people and blame us for problems, it leads directly to violence against us.  When Black movements are undermined, it leads to more violence against Black people, including Black Jews.  Antisemitism is part of the same machinery those politicians use to blame Black and brown people, people who are immigrants, people who are Muslim, and more.  But whether they generate division and fear based on our religion, our skin color, or how long we’ve been here, their goal is to keep us from working together to win the things we all need to survive and thrive.

When Jewish people join together with our neighbors across racial and religious differences, as we have in the past, we can protect each other and build the future of freedom and safety we all deserve.  Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work.  We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.

The Black Lives Matter movement is the current day Civil Rights movement in this country, and it is our best chance at equity and justice.  By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions.

The Lotte Meyerson Tikkun Olam Committee is in the process of planning a series of conversations and discussion groups for the fall around the issue of racism and anti-Semitism, including reading/book groups and media (video/podcasts/etc.) viewing groups.  Look for the first one during Yom Kippur day as a preview. 

Election 2020

November 3^rd is fast approaching.  Your choices this year are to vote in person during early voting or on election day, or to vote in the safety and comfort of your own home by using the Absentee (Mail-in) Ballot.  We recommend the Absentee Ballot mainly for the simplicity of filing and the reduced health risk during the Covid Pandemic.  You can obtain an Absentee Ballot on-line or through the mail.  We recommend on-line at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Forms/NCAbsenteeBallotRequestForm.pdf

Your completed Absentee Ballot can be returned after being completed by October 27^th to:

• Mail it to: O. Box 7468, Asheville, NC 28802
• Hand deliver it to the drop box located in the entryway to the Election Service office at

77 McDowell Street, Asheville

• Email the completed form to elections@buncombecounty.org
• Fax the completed form to 250.6262
• If your live in another county, contact your local Election Services office.

Recently you may have received an unsolicited NC Absentee Ballot in the mail.  These ballot request forms were sent by a non-profit and non-partisan organization Center for Voter information.  If you have not filled out the Absentee Ballot, you may use the one provided to you.  If you have already submitted a request form, then pass the new form on to another person.

Lastly, the Board of Elections is actively looking for individuals willing to work at the polls during Early Voting and on Election Day.  These are paid positions and must be filled.  If you or someone you know who is over 17 years old might like to serve, contact your local Board of Elections or: https://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/election/poll-worker.aspx 

Book Share Update

As most of you know our congregation has supported the collection of children’s picture books by donating these reading materials since 2011.  Since that first drive, we have collected and donated over 6000 books to give to children in Buncombe County who have not entered kindergarten.  It has been our custom to have the book drive every other year during Rosh Hashanah.  It just so happens that we had this drive last fall so thankfully 2020 is not the year to ask you to donate these books.

Over the last five years the books have mostly been given to the children at the Pisgah View Head Start classrooms where our congregation has made our home volunteering with the preschool children there.  During the course of each school year we have had several Book Shares where children get to select a book they want from many, many choices.  During this past school year, we had to stop volunteering in March due to Covid.  To get these books into the children’s hands, we decided to give all of the books to the preschool where the teachers will distribute them to the children during this upcoming school year.  It was important for your gifts of these books getting into the children’s hands even though we could not continue the volunteering and Book Shares as we had been doing.

So please get prepared for our next children’s picture book drive for the Fall of 2021.  At that point, we will be in great need to re-boot our efforts in supporting reading for our preschool children who need that level of support.