Tree of Life Congregation, affectionately known as The Tree, is a Conservative Jewish synagogue located in a former church on Fayetteville Street. The Clark family lives nearby. The building, and the old rectory, now the rabbi’s house, are near the Masjid Ar-Rahman Mosque. A family of peregrine falcons lives in a nesting box outside the sexton’s apartment. A sign on the synagogue lawn reads, “Welcome, friends, to The Tree”.
Photos of synagogue sexton Rebecca Martin, taken during the annual falcon banding, have appeared in the local newspaper. Her services are provided by Piedmont Maids, whose uniform she and her team wear. A company Toyota Camry Hybrid sits in the parking lot beside a Toyota Tundra rigged for towing.
There have also been photos of, and news articles about Rabbi Solomon M. Kaplan, Cantor Harry P. Silver, Executive Director David Daniels, and his wife, Educational Director Leah Daniels.
At the rear of the raised platform in front of the synagogue is the Holy Ark, where the Torah scrolls are kept. Above and in front of it is the Eternal Light. On either side of the Ark are chairs. The one just to the congregation’s left of the ark is the rabbi’s. Further down is the president’s chair. The cantor’s chair is closest to the ark on the congregation’s right. At the front of the platform are two lecterns and two wooden stands for holding Torah scrolls. The organ and four-member choir (two men and two women) are on the congregation’s right of the cantor.
Near the end of the Friday evening service, the rabbi made several announcements. One was about the kiddush after services in the Social Hall. During it, the cantor announced the start of the zemirot, or meal songs.
The next morning, while the Torah was being readied for reading, Rabbi Kaplan talked a bit about the art of Torah reading. Included in that was the statement, “You will find that Mr. Daniels reads clearly and distinctly."
The synagogue has many classes that are open to the public. All classrooms have dry-erase white boards and electrically operated movie screens.
Since the charge was last night, the best thing to do in this instance is to contact your debit card issuer immediately and challenge the charge. At the same time contact the BBB and National Restaurant Association and tell them exactly what happened. If the card issuer gives you a hard time then the big guns with those two organizations should be able get some kind of results.
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