Stuart and Elaine Tessler

Legacy giving was an easy decision for us.

My mother spent part of her childhood in Palestine. She told stories of her family and the difficulties they experienced as pioneers in Palestine to demonstrate the sacrifices so many made for the establishment of Israel and its importance to all of us. She devoted so much of her efforts to the development of Israel, demonstrated with the organizations she joined and with her involvement with what was the Jewish Federation at that time. She and my father were firm in their commitment to Israel and Judaism which were shared with their children and spouses as well.

That was a great part of the legacy my parents left me and Elaine. As a child, I went to a Folk Shule, a Zionist school, for my Jewish education. I grew up seeing pictures of Theodore Hertzl and Chaim Weizmann on the classroom walls. Elaine and I cannot give anyone our experiences, but the legacy gifts can help ensure that Jewish organizations have the resources to give future generations the understanding of what it is to be Jewish and have a relationship with Israel. Oftentimes in successive generations the connection withers. The way to keep our connections to Judaism and Israel moving forward is to make it a part of all our families, not just something that is in the rearview mirror.

When we first came to Charleston, we were welcomed by the Jewish community; we were embraced and supported, and we have a long memory. Charleston has been very good to us. We do not have children living here, and so we are not going to see the direct benefit to our grandchildren by leaving this legacy gift. The values that we cherish will be shared with future generations for the benefit of the entire community. Opportunities exist in the Jewish community because there are organizations, volunteers, and staff who are committed, but none of this happens without the dollars to support it. Good intentions don’t make the programs a reality. They have to be funded.

We believe that our legacy gifts are gifts of opportunity. Whether it enables a child to receive a Jewish education, an opportunity to get to work thanks to the assistance from Jewish Family Services of Greater Charleston, the opportunity for Jews in Havana, Cuba to live more easily as Jews, or to support the synagogue in giving a family the opportunity to participate in life cycle events, be they joyous or otherwise.

We want our gifts to continue our giving that during our lifetimes was in both dollars and values to “repair the world” from one generation to another.