Each year, Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte’s (JFGC) Annual Campaign is critical to fulfilling its mission as community builder and convener, fundraiser and grantor, and sustainer of Jewish life and Jewish identity for Greater Charlotte and beyond. Each year the community’s generous donations enable Federation to meet the needs that sustain our community. And each year, leadership immediately begins the process of planning for the following year’s campaign.

(JTA) — Israel will bar all non-citizens from entering the country for at least two weeks due to concern about the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The travel ban begins Sunday night at midnight.

(JTA) — Thanksgiving seems to have all the right ingredients for a holiday that most American Jews can embrace: It doesn’t fall on Shabbat, its roots and message are nonsectarian, and its only real ritual is a multi-course meal. 

 One of the first images of “The Shrink Next Door,” the limited series premiering Friday on Apple TV+, is of a smiling man wearing a huge kippah, chatting at a party in the Hamptons. 

A perfect storm: a pandemic, a shortage of low-income rental housing, and the arrival of evacuated Afghans needing a place of refuge. In the coming months, Charlotte will be one of six North Carolina cities to resettle Afghans, many of whom are coming under the umbrella of “humanitarian parole” rather than with refugee or SIV status. And many of these Afghans at the time of lease signing will be unable to show proof of income three times the rent and will have no credit history and no social security number.

When a massive earthquake struck Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, on August 11th, Jewish Federations, working through the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), mounted an immediate, large-scale humanitarian effort to save lives, heal the injured, and rebuild homes.

A well-planned and implemented security program and well-trained security team are critical to the health and vitality of any Jewish community of any size. But for a large, multi-building campus like Shalom Park, the challenges, efforts, and cost are greater than with most. A 54-acre campus that serves as the center of Jewish life in Greater Charlotte, Shalom Park is the largest Jewish communal environment in the country.

(JTA) — The World Series is upon us, and there are likely more Jewish players in this year’s edition than there have been in decades. The American League champion Houston Astros, who ousted Chaim Bloom’s Boston Red Sox last week, feature star slugger Alex Bregman. The National League champion Atlanta Braves boast an impressive duo of Jewish players: pitcher Max Fried and outfielder Joc Pederson.

A grand Jewish holiday concert will be held on the first night of Hanukkah, Sunday, November 28, at Symphony Park in SouthPark. The internationally popular California group 8th Day will be performing with a spectacular song and music festival that will lift your spirits and ignite your soul. The theme of this Hanukkah concert is Jewish Unity and Pride, Celebrating the Light of Hanukkah.

In the late 1930s, Jewish clarinetist and jazz bandleader Benny Goodman, known as the King of Swing, invited two Black musicians — Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton — to play in his orchestra. It was a watershed moment that marked the beginning of the end of racial segregation in the music business in America.