The area’s Jewish congregations are preparing to celebrate the High Holidays, a 10-day period beginning Wednesday, Sept. 8, that includes the holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For Beth Shalom of Lake Norman, this year’s High Holidays bring with them signs of growth.

The Conservative congregation last month held a celebration to dedicate a new, second Torah – a scriptural scroll that includes the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. In adding a second Torah, Beth Shalom of Lake Norman is meeting a practical need, but also marking an evolution, Rabbi Corey Helfand said.

Below: See a schedule of services at 2 congregations

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A group of athletes from Davidson-based Ingersoll-Rand recently competed in a Mooresville triathlon, and raised $60,000 for Davidson’s Ada Jenkins Center. Also in this column, a list of upcoming benefit events in and around Davidson, including the Lake Norman YMCA’s Community Garage Sale and a Women of NASCAR dinner to help pay for building a Habitat for Humanity House. In The Guide, CLICK HERE>

A new nature preserve off Griffith Street behind Davidson Day School could provide the town’s first public canoe and kayak access to Lake Davidson, as well as a wooded walking trail. Under an agreement hammered out recently between the Town of Davidson and the private school, the new park will occupy about 8 acres off Jetton Street, and be managed by the town.

Also participating in the park project will be the Davidson Lands Conservancy, which has received a $14,000 grant from the REI Foundation for the canoe launch, a short access trail and signs.
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Fund-raising effort now at $70,000; events in the works

Updated 4:51 p.m.
Thanks to a big turnout of volunteers, library branches in Davidson and Matthews will be open an extra day – Mondays – beginning Sept. 13, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library officials announced Monday.

Beginning on that date, the branches will be open from 1-7 p.m. on Mondays. That means the branches now will be open five days a week, for 38 hours. (See full listing of hours below.)
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Live local performances and concert recordings have become a major focus for Davidson College-based classical music radio station WDAV-FM, 89.9, over the past two years. Now, the station has reached an agreement that will put the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra back on the local airwaves for the next three years.

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The Davidson Library Task Force has reached the $60,000 mark in its campaign to raise enough money to keep the local library branch open for another year. The total, as of Monday, includes donations from 195 people, according to task force members.

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Davidson Community Players will be looking for a new executive director again this fall. The group’s board chairman confirmed Friday that Diane Benson no longer holds the job. She had started Feb. 1.

“Diane is no longer the executive director,” board chair Jay Butler said. He did not elaborate on the circumstances of her departure. Read the full story

The “Craaazzy Kayak Trip Water Basin Tour” finished its trip from the Catawba River headwaters to Blythe Landing in Cornelius Saturday, encouraging donations to the Catawba River Keeper Foundation. The group raised almost $2,000 in pledges and received a $1,500 challenge bonus from the N.C. Conservation Network. Volunteers along the route donated supplies and support.

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