Greenspon Center: Inviting You to Write the Next Chapter

Charlotte Jewish News December 2021

We often stop in December, the last month of the year in the U.S., to appreciate the big and small things that make our lives better. But how often do we reach out to the people who provide the experiences for which we give thanks?

At the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center, we want to make sure that you understand just how grateful we are for your care and support of all that we do, all that we have done, and all that we hope to do. We are dreaming big and invite you to continue to write the next chapter of our story with us!

What does that story look like?

During our first five years we have:

• Increased our footprint on the Queens College c ampus.

• Formed new partnerships in the greater Charlotte community.

• Welcomed 20 new students into the Hillel family. At this milestone moment, we changed our name and began

working on two groundbreaking programs. During our next five years we aim to:

• Offer a Holocaust Pedagogy Certificate program to educators and community members.

• Offer a new certificate to train social justice advocates to bring lasting change to our community.

• Expand our Charlotte Black/ Jewish Alliance for young professionals.

• Create traveling pop-up Holocaust and human rights educational exhibits.

• Sponsor Holocaust education programs for educators and the community.

• Provide more latkes and more laughter as we celebrate Jewish Life at Queens. Thank you, in advance, for helping us write the next chapters of our developing story!

To discuss the impact that your gift can have, please email Talia Goldman at goldmant@ queens.edu.

The Stan Greenspon Center for Holocaust and Social Justice Education is proud to announce an exciting partnership for Holocaust education.

After two months of talking and planning, we at the Greenspon Center are so proud to announce we are partnering with the Levine Museum of the New South and the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina Columbia to bring our very first Pop-Up History exhibit to Charlotte in January of 2022

A traveling exhibition from the Anne Frank Center will be installed at the Levine Museum’s space for two weeks. Middle and high school students from area schools will be trained as docents for the exhibit, with the hope that they will be able to bring the exhibit back to their home schools in the future. The docent training prepares students to personalize their presentation of the exhibit and builds leadership skills. It also engages the group in conversation about how prejudice and “othering” can endanger personal freedom and leads to harm.

Those who visit the exhibit will not only interact with Anne Frank’s story but also will be asked to consider their own experiences and leave something of their own story behind. Whether it is a poem, an image, a simple thought, or a short story, these artifacts will be collected and curated to form a new exhibit that reflects the identity and experiences of those who visited.

This is the first of many more Pop-Up History exhibits The Greenspon Center plans for Charlotte in the years to come. If you would like to support this project, please contact Donna Tarney at tarneyd@queens. edu) for more information!

Space is filling up for Journey Through Jewish Poland: Roots, Resilience, Renewal.

Did you know that in the 13th century, during the time of The Crusades and widespread anti-Jewish legislation, Poland created legal protections for Jews? Did you know Jews settled and built a rich cultural, religious, and social life that thrived for hundreds of years? Were you aware that scholars believe that 80% of World Jewry lived in Poland in the 16th century? Major movements upon which our Charlotte community is built emerged from Poland, including Hasidism, with its focus on mysticism and prayer, and the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, which supported the development of our modern Jewish movements. While it is important to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, this trip will explore the once-thriving Polish Jewish community from which the threads that connect us and beautify our Jewish lives were spun.

Join Talli Dippold, Rabbi Judy Schindler, and scholar-in-residence Dr. Tomasz Cebulski on a journey of discovery to learn more about this rich, 1,000- year heritage and explore Jewish roots, resilience, and renewal!learn more, please contact Talli (dippoldt@queens.edu).