Planning Is a Gift to Your Family

Charlotte Jewish News September 2021

By David Levin

Exactly 15 years ago, June 2006 was a very exciting month for my family. After 12 years living in Scottsdale, wandering the desert (so to speak), we packed our belongings, our dog, Sadie, and our two preschool children and made the long journey to begin our new life in Charlotte, North Carolina. Well, technically, my wife and children comfortably flew across the country, while my almost 70-year-old father flew out to Arizona to join me for the cross-country drive. I specify North Carolina, because most of our neighbors in Scottsdale had no idea where Charlotte was located. Truth be told, it hadn’t been that many years earlier when I first discovered that Charlotte didn’t look and feel like Savannah or Charleston. When we showed our neighbors photos of the house we had just purchased in Charlotte, they were appalled to see that there weren’t six-foot-high block walls surrounding our backyard and separating us from our neighbors, as is so typical in Arizona neighborhoods. We, on the other hand, couldn’t have been happier about the more open nature of the neighborhood and the opportunity for our children to run from house to house playing with other children. We looked forward to this new chapter in our life, and the sense of community Charlotte and Shalom Park offered.

Dad and I set off together in a minivan filled to overflowing with plants, items we’d need before the movers arrived, and, of course, the dog. At the time, we didn’t realize what a special trip it would turn out to be. Together in a car for over 30 hours without the daily distractions of work and children, we spent the cross-country drive engrossed in conversation. My dad, as he does best, entertained me with stories gathered from the first 69 years of his life. We laughed a lot, got something “caught in our eye” a few times, and I heard some new stories between the many ones I almost knew by heart. The journey reinforced the value of family and community. As we regularly remind ourselves, each day is a gift and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Fast-forward 15 years to today. You might be thinking that my father may have passed away. Thankfully that’s not the case, but he doesn’t have the same abilities he did back then. Although he’s still a master storyteller of tales from long ago, he struggles with his short-term memory, and life in the present doesn’t flow as smoothly. Conversations often feel like Groundhog Day. The CPU in his head sometimes reboots mid-paragraph. It makes our time together all those years ago even more special.

My sister and I recently relocated our parents to Charlotte from the Boynton Beach, Florida home they’d lived in and loved for over 20 years. In their early days in Florida, they gave my sister and me a wonderful gift. They planned and prepaid for all their funeral and burial needs so we needn’t worry or be forced to make important decisions under pressure when the day came to put the plans in motion. More recently, however, knowing that both children and all four grandchildren considered Charlotte home, a burial in southeast Florida no longer made sense. We worried about the challenges of updating their advanced plans to take place in Charlotte. Thankfully, we’re now able to count on the community we’ve developed while raising our children here. We recognize that the Hebrew Cemetery of Greater Charlotte is a very special place, with a 150-year history and a wonderful director. In fact, I’ve served on the board of directors since 2015, and know our family will be supported with kindness and compassion as we plan for the inevitable.

We’ve been members of the Hebrew Cemetery Association for many years, and my parents joined a few years ago as well. Your tax-deductible annual membership dues of $72, payable to the Hebrew Cemetery Association, provides many advantages, not the least of which are extensive discounts on burial plots and services. But more importantly, membership and donations help maintain and sustain the ongoing care of this beautiful property and those who are buried here. Your membership allows you to participate in the greatest mitzvah of all — providing the love, dignity, and holiness that all Jews deserve as they pass on to eternal life. The Hebrew Cemetery has been serving our community for more than 150 years. Please help ensure it will continue for another 150 years and more.

The Hebrew Cemetery Association of Greater Charlotte’s primary mission is to provide and maintain a dignified and respectful final resting place for those in the Charlotte Jewish community and a place of peace and serenity for family and friends visiting the graves of their departed. Every member of the Charlotte Jewish community is guaranteed a burial, regardless of ability to pay.

Annual Community Memorial Service

September 12, 10:30 a.m.

1801 Statesville Ave, Charlotte, NC 28206

For information: www.HebrewCemetery.org