Genealogy was not a popular discussion item when my extended family gathered every Sunday afternoon at my grandpar-ents’ home in West Philadelphia. Yes, ev-ery Sunday. My grandparents came from Russia and Poland, quite standard origins, I was assured. My father said privately that my uncle wasn’t really a kohen even if he said he was. That was about it for our genealogy.

When I grew up and got heavily into the Jewish endeavor, I felt that I had been cheated. Other people had charts and family trees, and I had what you just read. I hope your family was better at this. It’s never too late to get started. As you will learn from reading this issue of the Scroll, it is good to know your roots, and some fascinating discoveries may lie ahead for you when you learn about them.

One of the relatively few positive findings in the Pew survey of Jews in the U.S. was the almost universal pride that we take in being Jewish. Since it is mostly not the kind of pride that comes from a shared sense of belief or practice, re-searchers think it derives from our ties to our ancestors, both those of our kin and those of our collective kin who kept our people going to this day.

Having links that go so far back, wheth-er we know our own family details or not, gives us a sense of grounding that few of our neighbors can share. That is good, but I am a rabbi, so I would like our Jewishness to be informed by more than memories and ancestors. As we used to say in my Hil-lel days, may a deep and meaningful Jewish life be not just part of our background but be our playground as well. n

S c r o l lCongregation Beth El

The Scroll is a recipient of three Solomon Schech-ter Gold Awards from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Theme Jewish Genealogy • 1, 12-18

Hagel-Feinberg Dialogue • 5

Evening Minyan • 5

Mitzvah Day • 6-7

Youth • 8

Library Corner • 9

Hanukkah Wish List • 10

Beth El Whys • 11

Ometz Lev 4U • 19

Lighten Up • 20

Departments

Sisterhood • 3

Men’s Club • 4

Contributions • 21

Bulletin Board • 24

December 2013 • Kislev–Tevet 5774 Vol. 63 No. 4

From the Clergy

ProuD of our

By Rabbi Bill Rudolph

Jewish Roots

Gala co-chairs Karen and Rob Judson, Monica and Gavin Abrams, and Kathy Sklar and Paul Love, with Rabbi Harris and Hazzan Klein. The evening, featuring Broadway satire and New York desserts, raised $100,000. Photo by Mitchell Solkowitz

Gala: Forbidden Broadway

2

Before the End of the Year

Beth El is a vibrant community that provides a dynamic Jewish environment. As the calendar year winds down, please consider an

end-of-the-year gift that will assure our agility and viability to be the Jewish address you have come to expect. Make a Gift for a Low Dollar ValueWith the stock market at record highs, we have an extraordinary op-portunity of which to take full advantage. A gift of appreciated secu-rities enables you to maximize your contribution to Beth El, maxi-mize your charitable deduction, and minimize your capital gains tax liability. Transferring stock to Beth El is an easy procedure. Contact Andrea Glazer at aglazer@bethelmc.org for instructions.Opportunity for Donors Age 70½ or OlderIf you are 70½ or older, renewed legislation benefits you. You may make gifts to Beth El using funds in your individual retirement funds (IRAs) without incurring the undesirable tax effects traditionally as-sociated with lifetime donations from qualified retirement accounts. Your donations can be accomplished simply. You may contribute funds this way if you are age 70½ or older and the gifts total no more than $100,000, you make the gifts on or before December 31, 2013, and you transfer the funds directly from an IRA to Beth El.

Contact your IRA custodian to transfer your desired gift to Beth El. We encourage you to consult with tax professionals to address specific situations. For more information, contact Andrea Glazer at aglazer@bethelmc.org.Create a Jewish LegacyJewish tradition teaches us that it is our responsibility to make this world a better place for future generations. To learn why you might make a legacy gift to Beth El as part of your estate planning and how you can create a legacy gift, contact Andrea Glazer at aglazer@bethelmc.org. n

S c r o l l8215 Old Georgetown RoadBethesda, Maryland 20814-1451Phone 301-652-2606 Fax 301-907-8559Web www.bethelmc.orgAffiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative JudaismSenior Rabbi William D. Rudolph wrudolph@bethelmc.orgRabbi Gregory Harris gharris@bethelmc.orgHazzan Matthew Klein mklein@bethelmc.org Executive Director Sheila H. Bellack sbellack@bethelmc.orgEducation DirectorRabbi Mark Levine mlevine@bethelmc.orgAssociate Education DirectorElisha Frumkin efrumkin@bethelmc.orgDirector of Community Engagement Geryl Baer gbaer@bethelmc.org Preschool Director Kim Lausin klausin@bethelmc.orgYouth Director Adam Zeren azeren@bethelmc.orgRabbi Emeritus Samuel Scolnic, z”lHazzan Emeritus Abraham Lubin alubin@bethelmc.orgPresidentDavid MillsExecutive Vice PresidentJerry SorkinAdministrative Vice PresidentLarisa Avner TrainorCommunications and Tikkun Olam Vice PresidentLarry SidmanCommunity Building Vice President Ivy FieldsDevelopment and Finance Vice PresidentMark C. BronfmanEducation and Lifelong Learning Vice PresidentAmy Kaufman GoottWorship and Spirituality Vice PresidentRebecca Musher GrossTreasurerJoseph B. HoffmanSecretarySharon D. ZissmanScroll Committee scroll@bethelmc.com Janet Meyers, Chair, Sharon Apfel, Judy Futterman, Mara Greengrass, Davida Kales, Marci Kanstoroom, Helen Popper, Marsha Rehns, Larry Sidman, and Jerry Sorkin 4U editor: Jennifer KatzScroll, USPS Number 009813, is published monthly by Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, 8215 Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814. Periodical postage rate paid at Bethesda, Maryland and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Scroll, 8215 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD 20814.

IRS Charitable Contribution RulesThe 1993 tax law requires you to have a “contemporaneous” receipt for all charitable contributions of $250 or more after December 31, 1993. If you make a contribution of $75 or more for which you also receive something of value in return, you are also required to have a receipt showing the non-deductible value of what you received.

In order to reduce your paperwork and ours, Beth El takes advantage of the provision of the law that allows the use of an annual statement, which will satisfy your “contemporaneous” receipt requirement. In order to ensure that all payments made by you during 2013 are reflected on your statement, the statement will include all checks dated no later than December 31, 2013, and received in the Beth El office through January 6, 2014. Gifts of stock must be received in Beth El’s stock account by December 31. Contribution statements will be mailed before the end of January 2014.

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Getting olda Like GoldaBy Robin JacobsonWhen I learned that I would be this year’s Golda Meir Award recipient, my feelings bounced from surprise to gratitude to panic to humorous nostalgia. A long time ago, when my brother, Bruce, was in elementary school, he wrote an unintention-ally hilarious report on Golda Meir, which became part of family lore. As our mother read his draft, she smiled through Chapter 1, titled, “The Young Golda.” Moving forward, she chortled and then convulsed with laughter on reaching Chapter 2: “Golda Gets Olda.” Now I am “olda” and receiving a “Golda” award – what a nice footnote to a family story.

My family – husband Jim, daughters Minna and Sylvia – joined Beth El 11 years ago. We marked the girls’ bnot mitz-vah here. Sylvia went on to become a bar/bat mitzvah tutor and to sing in Marak Hayom. Meanwhile, I slowly became involved in the Beth El community. BookloverAn inveterate booklover, I gravitated to the Library Com-mittee, chairing first the Library Dedication Committee and then the Library Committee itself. To my mind, this is the best job in all of Beth El, mostly because of the more-than-wonderful committee members who run the library, orga-nize book sales, and plan book-related programs, such as the annual Literary Luminary event. Evelyn Margolis deserves a particular salute for serving the library and Beth El readers since 1969.

One of the library’s most formidable challenges was creat-ing an electronic catalog (now accessible through the Beth El Web site) that lists and describes each of the nearly 5,000 items in our collection. To make the library inviting and com-fortable, we added a sofa, chairs, and artwork. For me person-ally, a daunting but rewarding undertaking has been writing a monthly book review for the Scroll. This issue includes my 71st column, “Remembering and Forgetting” (see page 9).

When the Library Committee discussed sponsoring a book club, Margery London proposed that we seek Sister-hood sponsorship as well. Before we knew it, Margie and I were Sisterhood Co-Vice Presidents for Education. We planned a number of programs and field trips, and the book club has developed into a fun group of both men and wom-en. Not usually competitive, I was part of the first Sister-hood Chidon Torah team.

Other stops along the way of my Beth El journey were a foray into comedy – representing the great cause of haman-taschen in the Latke-Hamantasch Debate – and into more sacred pursuits – studying Torah, Tanakh, and trope with our exceptional clergy, all inspiring teachers and role models. I served on Rabbi Rudolph’s committee for the annual Inter-Religious Learning Institute. Then, this past year, I ventured into shul government, joining Beth El’s Board of Directors and gaining a new perspective on the shul’s aspirations. I recommend the experience.

I have Beth El to thank for some cherished friendships – and also for my job! I was a lawyer between positions when Ricardo Munster tipped me off that Adas Israel’s library director was leaving. Mistakenly, I jumped to the conclu-sion that Adas was closing its vast library. Trying hard not to seem like a vulture, eager to pick over a dead library, I called Adas to ask whether Beth El might acquire some books. To shorten a long story, the Adas library proudly continues to expand its collection and programs with me at its helm. This fall I also became a judge for the National Jewish Book Awards.

The Golda Meir Award says more about Beth El – and its culture of thanking volunteers – than about me. I have been lucky in that my interests have coincided with some con-gregational needs. And so, I see this award as something to aspire to rather than something I have already earned. I will try to be worthy of it. n

Sisterhood UpCOMING SISTeRhOOD/ZhAVA eVeNTSMonday, December 2, 9:30 am Zhava CraftingTuesdays, December 3, 10, 17, 6:30 pm Mah JonggThursday, December 5, 6:30 pm Tallit Workshop 7:30 pm Kesher NashimSunday, December 8, 9:30 am Executive Board meetingThursday, December 12, 19, 7:00 pm Tallit WorkshopSunday, December 15 Provide dinner at Community Based ShelterThursday, December 19, 7:30 pm Zhava Crafting

Zhava CraftingMonday, December 2, 9:30-11:30 am

andThursday, December 19, 7:30-9:00 pm

Bring your needles, yarn, or thread and join us for shmoozing and crafting in

the Zahler Social Hall.For questions or to RSVP,

contact Heather Janssen at info@bethelmc.org.

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Polarized u.S. CongressBy Howard FeibusGerrymandering is a major cause of polarization in U.S. politics, said Todd Gillman, Washington bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News, in a re-cent talk he gave to the Men’s Club. Speaking October 27 about the causes and impacts of the “dysfunc-tional” U. S. Congress, Todd said that many people would like to see a third political party, because they have become disen-chanted with both Republicans and Democrats. The Tea Party, however, will not be that third party. Todd noted that despite the Tea Party’s recent spike in popularity, it is now losing favor.

Discussing the source of the contentiousness in the U. S. Congress, Todd concluded that a major cause of the polariza-tion is due to gerrymandering, which has led to fewer swing states (states that shift from Republican to Democratic and vice versa) in recent years. Previously, he explained, the major parties had more incentive to compromise in order for in-cumbents to be re-elected. Those compromises have become less prevalent, Todd said. Gerrymandering in a number of states, he said, has enabled politicians in some districts to get re-elected while promoting extreme positions. The make-up of the current Congress very likely contributed to the recent government shutdown, Todd said, predicting that a polarized Congress will continue. n

MAH JONGG CARDS SiSteRHOOD iS tAkiNG ORDeRS fOR tHe New 2014 MAH JONGG CARDS_______ Standard Card @ $8.00 $_______

_______ Large Print @ $9.00 $_______

Checks must be received by February 2

name _________________________________________

address ________________________________________

_____________________________________________

City____________________ State_______Zip _________

email address___________________________________

Please make checks payable to Beth el SisterhoodMail to 8215 Old georgetown rd., Bethesda, Md 20814 attn: Mah Jongg

tHe tHiRD ANNuAl SiSteRHOOD MAH JONGG tOuRNAMeNt

will tAke plACe ON febRuARy 9.

Men’s Club

The Men’s Club It’s Academic Team, consisting of Mitchell Solkowitz, Joe Young, and David Margu-lies (left to right), competed in the first round of the Seaboard Region tournament. Although the team did not win, the men represented Beth El well, answering questions of both Jewish and general content. The tournament was held October 13 at Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria. Photo by Howie Stein

UpCOMING MeN’S CLUB eVeNTSSunday, December 1, 10:00 am Jon and Eileen Kay will discuss their recent visit to Israel.Thursday, December 5, 8:30 pm David Margulies will lead the Hearing Men’s Voices discussion group on the topic, “Prayer: What is it, how do we do it, and does it work?”Sunday, December 8, 10:00 am Bill Dauster, deputy chief of staff for policy for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, will discuss what we have learned from the recent government shutdown.

poker Faces Men’s Club members enjoyed a poker tournament on October 27. Photo by Mitchell Solkowitz

5

Beth El’s Evening Minyan is held in the Swoff Chapel every Sunday through Thursday at 8:00 pm (8:20 pm on Wednesdays when the Samuel Scolnic Institute meets). This volunteer-led service provides a community for individuals saying Kaddish – many of whom attend the service daily during the 11 months of mourning following the death of a parent – and for congregants observing a yahrzeit. In addition, many Beth El members find that this intimate service provides an opportunity for spiritual enrichment or to build relationships with other congregants. Many evenings, however, find regular Evening Minyan attendees and those saying Kaddish anxiously watching the synagogue entrance hall and wondering if they will reach the 10 adult attendees required for a minyan. As a result, the Center for Community Building, which we chair, along with the Center for Worship and Spirituality, chaired by Rebecca Musher Gross, are making it a priority to increase attendance at the Evening Minyan. ensuring a MinyanBeth El members have always been asked (in alphabetical rotation) to attend at least one Evening Minyan a year. Reminders noting specific assignments are sent via email to the group of congregants assigned to a particular week. The email noting the assigned date links to a site that allows each member to sign up for a specific night. When you receive your notice, whether or not you

can fulfill your specific assignment or need to fulfill your assignment on a different evening, please use this link (http://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040448A9AE23A46-evening) to select the night(s) you will be able commit to attend the Evening Minyan. You may also sign up for multiple evenings throughout the year. The information is also available on the Beth El home page. If all adult congregants would fulfill their responsibility in this regard, we could ensure a well-attended Evening Minyan for those needing to say Kaddish as well as for others seeking a moment of spirituality and comfort. There also is a vibrant Morning Minyan that all are encouraged to attend. Services are held at 7:30 am Monday through Friday and at 9:00 am every Sunday. Morning Minyan is followed by a free breakfast (with a special French toast breakfast on Thursdays). Torah is read Monday and Thursday mornings. There is no formal sign-up procedure for Morning Minyan. For more information on either service, contact Rabbi Rudolph at wrudolph@bethelmc.org. n

Evening Minyan Needs Your SupportBy Geryl Baer and Ivy Fields

Minyan Time ChangePlease note that Evening Minyan on Wednesday, December 25, and Tuesday, December 31, will be at 5:30 pm.

Conversations With Key American Leaders Continue“Defending America in a Fractured World”

Chuck Hagel (left), United States Secretary of Defense

in dialogue with

Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq.

Monday, December 16, 7:30 pm

Congregation Beth El

6

Blood Donation

Mitzvah Day Co-chairs Sheryl Miller and Jon Polon

Cooking Meals

Clothing Donation

Electronic Recycling

Gleaning

Painting Platters with JFGH Residents

Bikes for the World

7

Bone Marrow Screening

Beth El’s Mitzvah Day offered a special opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of tikkun olam, repairing the world, by heeding the Torah’s command to care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the suffering. This year, on Sunday, October 27, more than 500 congregants of all ages helped to enrich the lives of those less fortunate in our local community, in Israel, and around the world. Among the highlights were:

• 50 Jewish residents enjoyed a concert by Marak Hayom at the Revitz House.• 60 congregants created 80 tactile mural tiles that will be sent to Keren Or, a

school in Israel for children with disabilities. • 36 volunteers and Jewish Foundation for Group Homes residents painted 15

Hanukkah platters that will be donated to low-income families through the Jewish Social Service Agency.

• 45 preschool families packed 350 pounds of food for children at Weller Road Elementary School.

• 19 volunteers cleaned up and raked the grounds of Flora M. Singer Elementary School, named in memory of the Holocaust survivor and Beth El member.

• 50 congregants donated 47 pints of blood through INOVA’s mobile unit. • 255 bags of clothes were sorted by 42 volunteers and donated to the

Interfaith Clothing Center. 900 articles of professional clothing were collected for Strive DC.

• Julie Mack and Andy Zatman held a jazz concert for 65 residents and their families at Ring House. 17 Beth El members attended.

• 34 people harvested about 3,000 pounds of collard greens to be distributed to low-income families through the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network.

• 300 meals and 400 servings of baked goods were prepared and delivered to Rachael’s Women’s Center and Shepherd’s Table.

• 75 bicycles, four sewing machines, bike equipment, and $540 were donated to Bikes for the World.

• 2,652 pounds of electronics were donated to Creative Recycling. • 65 gift bags were made for sick children at the Bone Marrow Transplant

Center at Children’s National Medical Center. • 50 people donated household items, chairs, baby equipment, cleaning supplies,

toiletries, blankets, sheets, and mattresses to A Wider Circle. • 50 volunteers assembled and donated 775 snack bags to the Capital Area

Food Bank’s after-school Kids Cafe. • 10 people bowled with four people with autism from Community Support

Services. • The Beth El Band performed for 45 residents at the Hebrew Home of

Greater Washington. • 100 walkers (mostly fourth-grade students and their families) raised $2,000

for Shepherd’s Table.• 20 seventh graders raked leaves at senior citizens’ homes.• Four seniors joined about 25 fifth graders in making cards for Israeli soldiers.• 31 Bonim members decorated shirts for homeless children.• 26 Machar volunteers made stuffed animals for The Children’s Inn at NIH.• 13 Kadima youth weeded, planted, and cleaned up seniors’ yards.• 12 people removed invasive weeds at Hillmead Park.• Volunteers met with 9 low income seniors at a subsidized apartment building

in Washington to provide legal assistance.Photos by David Friedlander, Mitchell Solkowitz, Walid Hammound, and Avianda Riana Putri

Mitzvah Day

2013Murals for Keren Or

Raking Leaves

Assembling Snack Bags

Marak Hayom at Revitz House

8

The weather is chilly, the trees are bare, but our thoughts should be on summer camp. This is the time to get your child registered for camp. Surveys consistently show that Jewish camps are one of the top reasons kids love Judaism. It shows them how enjoy-able living Jewishly can be.

We have a very large number of Beth El youth who attend Jew-ish camps. We are the largest feeder synagogue to both Capital Camps and Camp Ramah. We send dozens of kids to Camp JCC. You’ll also find Beth El kids at Camps Airy and Louise, B’nai Brith Perlman, Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake, and others.

A report from the Foundation of Jewish Camps notes that “camp is a transformative experience in the life of a

child. Jewish camp weaves Jewish values, culture, and tradi-tions into the fabric of camp, helping campers to connect

to their own identity and the larger Jewish community. Spirited and dy-namic staff members use experiential learning to reveal what makes Jew-ish religion and culture so unique in today’s world. At camp, Jewish and Israeli culture is celebrated through song, food, art, and dance.”

The report continues to under-score the importance of summer camp: “The impact of Jewish camp is immediate – campers return home connected to a community and

friends that will last them a lifetime. And it doesn’t stop there. Children with pivotal Jewish camp

Youth Activities

Jewish Summer CampsBy Adam Zeren

continued on page 11

Second AnnualChinese Food and a Movie

Spend “Erev Xmas” at Beth ElTuesday, December 24Movies will begin at 4:30 pm.

Dinner will be served between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm.Movie screenings will resume at 7:30 pm.

$15 per person $10 for children (ages 6 – 10)

$5 for children (ages 2-5)$50 maximum per family

RSVP by Tuesday morning, December 17, to Geryl Baer at gbaer@bethelmc.org or 301-652-8569, ext. 352.

Please tell us your children’s ages.

Chinese food and a MovieBy Geryl BaerOn December 24 (“Erev Xmas”) please attend the second annual Chinese Food and a Movie program. Beginning in the late afternoon into the evening, we will show a variety of movies and television shows and enjoy a kosher Chinese din-ner catered by David Chu’s restaurant in Baltimore.

Last year 200 people attended. This year, there will again be movie selections to satisfy all ages. New this year, partic-ipants will be able to choose some offerings. In the movie schedule below, some slots are listed as “Voter’s Choice.” Please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9L3WW6J to view the selection and cast your vote.4:30 pm:Young children: Winnie the PoohChildren: Monsters UniversityAdult: The Other Son (Israeli film)Adult: VOTER’S CHOICE6:00-7:00 pm: Dinner7:15 pm:Children: Mega MindTeens: VOTER’S CHOICEAdult: Matchmaker (Israeli film)Adult: 42: The True Story of an American LegendNote: Movie selections are subject to change.

Enjoying Camp Ramah

9

Green Tik-kun

Only 36 years old, author Dara Horn is dazzlingly accomplished. In 2002, at age 25, she published her first novel to rave reviews. Since then, she has written three more novels and many articles, won two National Jewish Book awards, been named one of the Best of Young American Novelists by the prestigious British literary journal, Granta, earned a Harvard Ph.D. in comparative literature (Hebrew and Yiddish), taught at

several universities, and begun to raise a family of four lively children.

Dara Horn’s latest book, A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel, reads like a fast-paced suspense thriller yet is infused with unusual insights on a host of weighty subjects, including sibling rivalry, forgiveness, free will, and, perhaps most interesting of all, remembering (and sometimes deliberately forgetting) the past.A Contemporary ThrillerHorn’s ambitious novel weaves together several stories united by common themes. In the primary story, a brilliant and beautiful American software innovator, Josie Ashkenazi, invents a cutting-edge, wildly successful software platform called Genizah. Every moment of a user’s day is automatically recorded in Genizah, which catalogs images, conversations, e-communications, and other material within a personal archive. No experience, no matter how trivial, is ever lost. For instance, when Josie’s small daughter, Tali, cannot find her shoes, Josie whips out her tablet, searches for “shoes,” and retrieves an image of Tali slipping off her shoes in the car the previous day. Presto! Shoes found.

Designed as a contemporary retelling of the biblical Joseph story, the Josie story features a jealous older sister, rather than brothers. Judith, a lowly employee in her sister Josie’s booming technology company, plays on Josie’s vanity to get her to accept a prestige-boosting invitation to consult in Egypt. There, in the post-Arab Spring turmoil, Josie is kidnapped. In her prison cell, Josie reads a battered copy of the famous philosophical work, Guide for the Perplexed (a title Horn borrows for her novel) by 12th-century Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides. Intrigued, Josie ponders what it means to have free will.

A historical NovelTwo historical stories set in Old Cairo weave in between the chapters about Josie. One involves Cambridge University professor Solomon Schechter. In 1897, Schechter rescued a vast trove of medieval Jewish manuscript fragments from an ancient Cairo synagogue storage room, a genizah (from which Josie’s invention takes its name). One spectacular find was a letter from Maimonides, poignantly expressing his grief over the death of his beloved brother, who drowned in a shipwreck.

The second interwoven historical story features philosopher-physician Maimonides himself. In Horn’s re-imagining, it is Maimonides who commissions his brother to embark on his final, fatal voyage in order to obtain a rare therapeutic plant. Maimonides hoped to use the plant to successfully treat a hard-to-impress royal patient suffering from asthma.Judaism and MemoryRemembering the past is a call that resonates in Judaism. As famously noted by the eminent historian, Yosef Yerushalmi, z”l, the Hebrew command, Zakhor (remember) appears in various forms 169 times in the Bible. But that command, suggests Horn, was never a charge to remember every episode in the Jewish people’s long history but instead, to selectively remember certain key events – slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, the giving of the Torah, and so forth – events that, taken together, form a powerful narrative about the Jewish experience, identity, and mission. In Horn’s view, individuals also have the power to choose what is worth remembering from their pasts – and to remember the past more positively than it really was. To follow this interesting idea further, read Dara Horn’s imaginative novel, available in our library. n

Beth El Book ChatSunday, January 19, 11:30 am. Join us to discuss Dara Horn’s novel, The World to Come, a National Jewish Book Award winner. All are welcome. For more information, please contact Margery London or Robin Jacobson at robinainfo@bethelmc.org.

Library Corner

remembering and forgettingBy Robin Jacobson

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Wish ListHanukkah

educationpreschool education1. Send a Preschool teacher to the NAEYC conference

(2013-14) $1,000

Children’s Religious School education1. Religious School professional development $5,000

2. L2G Powered by ShalomLearning $3,000/class

3. Religious School enrichment program for one year - conversational Hebrew $3,000

4. Religious School enrichment program for one year – Jewish/Israeli singing $2,700

5. Religious School enrichment program for one year – art $1,750

6. Religious School enrichment program for one year – Israeli dancing $750

7. Religious School Jewish holiday programs $750 each

(Hanukkah, Purim, and Yom Ha’atzmaut)

8. Religious School back-to-school parent brunch (2014) $500

9. Kindergarten Consecration brunch $500

Adult and Community education1. Tikkun Layl Shavuot dinner and study sessions $1,200

2. Sponsorship of Beth El’s Library online catalog

for one year $1,000

Services for All of Us1. Sukkot Deli Lunch – 2014 $1,800

2. Simchat Torah celebration – 2014 $750

3. Hamantaschen for Purim $750

4. Latke-Hamantasch Debate refreshments $500

5. Shabbat or Yom Tov kiddush $250 - $425

6. Groggers for Purim $250

Children’s Services1. Junior Congregation

(5th and 6th grades, annual cost of leaders) $4,000

2. Bit O’Megillah $2,000

3. Shitufim (2nd-4th grades; annual cost) $2,000

4. Shabbat babysitting (one month) $1,000

5. Gan Shabbat (K-2nd grade; leaders for one month) $400

6. Junior Congregation kiddush (one month) $300

7. Nitzanim services (one month) $250

Congregation, Continuity, and Community Building1. Printing of Fall Program Guide – 2014 $6,000

2. Annual Youth Department kick-off event – 2014 $5,000

3. Shir Atid (children’s choir) $5,000

4. Israel Media Series (annually) $3,500

5. Annual End-of-Year Congregational Picnic $1,500

6. Age & Stage empty-nester programming $1,500

7. New-member welcome baskets for one year $1,200

8. Erev Xmas Chinese food and movie night $1,000

9. Roundtable with the Rabbi for one year $900 (or $75 each)

10. Annual plantings in large flower pots outside front doors (per season) $500

*The requested funds reflect costs of full sponsorship. Partial spon-sorships and co-sponsorships are welcome. Unless indicated other-wise, all gifts are for the current 2013-14 fiscal year. Please support the programs and activities you find most compelling.

To underwrite a Wish List item or for further information on making a gift to Beth El, please contact Andrea Glazer at aglazer@bethelmc.org or 301-652-8569, ext. 328.

Hanukkah – the holiday of rededication – calls upon all of us to rededicate ourselves to strengthening and enriching our Jewish community. Whether your priority is supporting our families in raising educated and committed Jewish children or bringing warmth and vitality to our synagogue community, we hope you will consider Congregation Beth El as a cornerstone of your Jewish life and of Jewish continuity. Please support Beth El’s Hanukkah Wish List*:

11

YOUTH continued from page 8

Toward the beginning of Beth El’s history, I am told, the sign outside the front of the synagogue read: “Beth El: A Liberal-Conservative Congregation.” To a bystander, this would seem somewhat of a paradox. But to us, it somehow made sense.

Conservative Judaism (CJ)’s inclination toward being both liberal and conservative dates back to the foundations of its premiere institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary (also my alma mater). The Seminary’s second chancellor, Solomon Schechter, appointed professors of many different persuasions, including traditionalists like Louis Ginzburg and Saul Lieberman, and more liberal thinkers, the most influ-ential of whom was Mordechai Kaplan. These two camps, with a spectrum in between, continue to exist within the CJ religious culture, and of course, at Beth El.

How can we be both of these things - liberal and conser-vative? To me, we can, and should, be both because they em-body the important core values of compassion and creativity.

It is easy to dismiss something or someone we don’t understand - a book of the Bible just as easily as a person who does not share our views. We are quick to judge, and as a result our world is rampant with misunderstanding and violence. You have probably experienced this in your life. Perhaps someone has written you off for your politics or for a misheard comment. If they had listened more deeply, they would have been able to see who you really are and find more understanding and compassion.

What Conservative Judaism advocates, to me, is a deep listening to the past. CJ advocates that we should study deeply, and listen deeply, to what the Bible’s authors and the rabbis were trying to tell us. Really, to what God is trying to tell us. Following CJ’s tradition of a “positive” attitude to historical Judaism, we are invited to listen before we judge and to be conservative in our judgments until we have truly studied, until we can truly approach our texts, like each other, with understanding and compassion.

But at the same time, conservatism is not an excuse for lockstep thinking. Jewish tradition holds that the more lib-eral rabbinical authority is often wiser than the stricter one. Why? Because it is easy to put up fences around the law and not easy to know the rules deeply enough to know what is truly permitted and truly forbidden.

This deep knowledge and creativity, to my mind, is at the heart of the Conservative approach to halakhah (Jewish law). Read Conservative responsa (rabbinic law) and you will find that they often contain far more footnotes than those of our Orthodox and Reform counterparts. Good liberal rulings come from a place not of ignorance, but of security and creativity.

Being both liberal and conservative, as many of us are, is a position that I believe we can embrace. And as Conservative Jews, we find that our values are rooted in the same things - understanding and compassion. Only these can lead to a bal-anced life of honesty, which is what God would want for all of us, conservative or liberal. Or hopefully - both. n

Beth el Whys: Conservative JudaismWhy Can “Liberal” Jews Be “Conservative?” By Hazzan Matthew Klein

Usher in the new week with music and songs in this informal gathering with Hazzan Matthew Klein, Aura Ahuvia, and friends.

You can bring your own instruments or just your voices.

We’ll bring snacks and songs.

Havdalah in rhythmDecember 7, 7:30-9:30 pm experiences are more likely to become adults who value

their Jewish heritage, support Jewish causes, and take on leadership roles in their communities.”

On Sunday mornings during December, representatives from a variety of Jewish camps will be at Beth El to pro-mote and answer questions about their summer programs. Please stop by their tables set up in the lobby and find the right fit for your child. You will not regret it.Youth ActivitiesOf course, we have plenty of activities coming up for your children this month. Machar (third-fifth grades) will go ice skating outdoors at the Rockville Town Center ice rink. Bonim (K-second) will hold a scavenger hunt around the synagogue. USY and Kadima will also have some incredibly fun activities. Check your email for more information. n

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As a proud Jew by choice, the idea that I would even have a Jewish genealogy seems more than a bit far-fetched. It certainly did to me – at least, it did until about a month before I sat with the beit din on the day of my conversion.

My parents divorced when I was an infant, and I never knew my father. My mom and I lived with my grandparents – my grandfather was of German-American descent and my grandmother was Japanese. We didn’t live in a religious household, although we celebrated holidays such as Christmas and Easter in the most secular and commercial ways possible when I was young. (Listen, I love chocolate; who am I to judge if it’s in the shape of a bunny rabbit?) My grandfather died a few weeks before my 14th birthday. Life went on, but now it was just Mom, Grandma, and me.ConversionSeveral years after my grandfather died, when I was in my 20s, a long and complicated series of events led me to make the decision to convert. Not for marriage, not for someone else, but for myself.

For more than a year, I studied with peers in a conversion class, where we learned both the basics and intricacies of Jewish holidays, customs, and beliefs. My beit din was scheduled about a month in advance: June 24, 2010. I was excited; I was ready.

I told my mom the date and asked her to come with me. “Do you remember Great-Aunt Lenora?” she asked, after agreeing to attend. My grandfather’s aunt – his mother’s sister. I nodded. “She was Jewish, you know,” my mother said.

What a bombshell! Lenora Rabenstein was Jewish? (In hindsight, maybe the name should have given it away.) Some digging around revealed that my great-grandmother, her sister Lenora, and two other sisters were born to the Geiselmans, a family that descended from Jews who immigrated to the United States from Germany in the late 1800s. The other three sisters married gentile men and either converted to Christianity or simply stopped practicing and upholding the Jewish traditions. Not Lenora.

I never met Great-Aunt Lenora (as I called her) in person, but when I was young, we would write back and forth like pen pals, and I have always remembered her fondly. I’m proud to be related to a woman who – when her sisters hid their Jewish roots during rising anti-Semitism in the 1930s – was a proud Jew. In a way, I feel a special connection knowing that both Lenora and I chose Judaism – myself through conversion, and Lenora through not assimilating or becoming more secular the way her sisters did. I am grateful to my mother for the revelation she shared with me about Lenora, for bringing my decision to choose Judaism into a new light, and for helping me to discover the Jewish roots I never knew existed. n

After a nearly seven-year quest to uncover when the Ross family immigrated to the United States from Minsk, Russia (now Be-larus), I finally discovered an important link that tied the old country with the new. A few years earlier, I had determined that my great-great-grandfather, Isaac David Cooper, settled in Wilmington, Del., around 1885. Isaac’s son-in-law and daughter were my great-grand-parents, Louis (Chaim Leib) Ross and Lena (Leah) Cooper Ross. I had focused my search of genealogy records using conventional spell-ings for Cooper or Cooperman, while the harder question centered on the derivation of the name Ross.Buying Steamship TicketsI decided to try researching any connection with Isaac Coo-

per and the Ross family, but this time using names like Kooper, Kuper, or Kooperman. I spotted something on the ancestry.com Web site about steamship ticket purchase ledgers from the Rosenbaum Bank in Phila-delphia. The bank helped Jews in America buy tickets for relatives back in the old country. The site’s index showed that an Isaac Kooper bought six steamship tickets on June 21, 1891. At first glance, the passengers’ last names had no correlation to Ross, and under normal circumstances I would have quickly moved on to other records. However,

something told me to spend a little extra time studying the passengers’ first names. In par-

ticular, two names stood out – Chaim Leib and Leah. Using Google, I found that microfilm reels containing Rosenbaum

Isaac David Cooper, Steve’s great-great-grandfather

Tracing the Ross Family Immigration By Steve Ross

continued on page 16

Digging Up Unknown Jewish RootsBy Tiarra Joslyn GENEALoGY

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My grandfather, David Bruckheim, was born to Hermann and Sophia Bruckheim in the town of Uehlfeld, Germany, in 1872. Uehlfeld is a very small town in northern Bavaria. David was the second of 10 children, five of whom died before the age of two. When my grandfather was eight, his father died. Seven years later, when he was 15, his mother passed away, and he and his siblings were orphans. My grandfather emigrated to the U.S. alone when he was 18, leaving his older brother behind to care for the other siblings. After a few years, he met my American-born grandmother at a German social club in Brooklyn, and they married and started a family. He became a salesman and a manufacturer of ladies’ sweaters.

When Hitler came to power, my grandfather’s siblings recognized the danger, and they also emigrated. Because they were Zionists, they went to Palestine in 1930, where my grandfather’s two remaining sisters married two brothers and established large families. One of my cousins, Jochanan Bein, was in Israel’s foreign ministry and was the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. before Benjamin Netanyahu.

Jochanan’s father, Alex Bein, was Israel’s first state archivist. About 20 years ago, I was in Frankfurt on a business

trip and decided to visit my grandfather’s birthplace. After riding two trains and a bus, I found myself, four hours later, alone in this small village of 2,000 people. Using what little German I remembered from college, I asked around and finally found the town hall. I met the mayor and explained

JewishBruckheim Family HistoryBy Arthur Bruckheim

continued on page 17

Genealogy for a Dutch OrphanBy Miriam TeitelWhen I began my research, we knew little about my father’s family beyond the following: my father was born in 1941 in Amsterdam when it was already under Nazi occupation, his father was arrested in 1942 and executed at Mauthausen, and his mother died of tuberculosis shortly after the war. We also had several official Dutch records (his birth certificate, his par-ents’ marriage license, and his mother’s death certificate) and full names for his parents and grandparents.

My father had uncovered this information many years ear-lier, but recently he had expressed renewed curiosity about his past. Our family history always fascinated me, so several years ago I suggested to my father that I would see what additional resources we could use from the Internet and newly available archives.

I began with general Web searches for Dutch genealogy and discovered that many civil registration cards are available online. Amsterdam records quickly revealed my father’s pater-nal grandparents’ birthdates and places of birth, as well as his grandmother’s maiden name. We learned that his grandparents were from towns only a few miles apart, but on either side of the Vistula River, which prior to the 20th century put one in Poland and the other in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That was enough to connect with many resources at JewishGen.

Through Dutch newspaper archives, we learned about his grandfather’s paper export business and travels to Jerusalem on behalf of a Zionist group, his mother’s photographic exhibi-tion, and his father’s engineering studies at the Delft University of Technology, chess matches, and employment at the Fokker aircraft factory. Contacting a major chess club led us to a book published in 1948 as a memorial to fallen Dutch chess players.

GENEALoGY

continued on page 18

Uehlfeld Jewish Cemetery

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In the days before JewishGen, ancestry.com, Facebook, Skype, and electronic census records, I spent a half a day each week-end for three years building my family trees and collecting family oral history from my elders. My grandmothers died when I was too young to ask questions, and my grandfathers just didn’t know much because “that’s women’s business.” I persevered, however, because I felt I couldn’t connect with my Jewish history and pass it along to my children if I didn’t know where I fit in.

When I completed my project, I had five of my eight great-grandpar-ents’ trees with up to 100 pages of oral history per family and 200-500 people per tree, covering up to seven generations going back to the 1830s. I also had copies of old photos, ke-tubahs, birth and death certificates, and my great-grandmother’s dragon-pattern creamer which was purchased by monthly installments. Building Family TreesI felt an urgency to record this his-tory because my grandfathers’ gen-eration ranged in age from late 60s to 90s, and a number had passed on. I started my research with my grandfa-thers’ personal address books. I called their cousins and asked them to build what they knew of the tree, and I entered the information into Fam-ily Tree Maker software. I inquired about stories of relatives they knew, and I tape-recorded the phone calls with their permission. Later, I typed up their stories - including as many specific addresses, full names, schools, and other details as possible - and mailed them a copy to proofread. Many relatives knew the Yiddish names of the older relatives but not their American names or last names. The Yiddish names helped me trace the tree up a generation through ketubahs. I mailed relatives the corrected final copies of all completed interviews for them to share with family.

At each interview, I requested old photos, research, and scrapbook items that I scanned and then returned. I re-ceived personal letters, recipes, newspaper articles, business advertisements, and special event invitations – in a variety of languages. Board Meetings With einsteinFrom those items, I learned some very interesting things. My family had at least four rabbis and a mashgiach. One of

my cousins served on a UJA board with Albert Einstein, who visited their house regularly for board meetings. My great-grandparents were founders of several Orthodox shuls. At each opening, they would have their grandchildren dress up and parade around.

My great-uncle, a doctor, was arrested for shaving while driving, according to a newspaper blurb. My grandfather, known as Popeye for his bulging muscles from labor at the family-owned lumber yard, read comics behind his Passover Hagga-dah, making his nieces and nephews laugh during the Seder. My great-great-great-grandmother didn’t want her daughter to leave the dairy farm in Belarus at the turn of the century to come to America because she thought American Jews were not re-ligious enough. It’s a good thing she didn’t listen to her mother, as our original town no longer exists.

Today, technology streamlines the generation-tracking process tremendously. I can now connect with my cousins on Facebook to see their children’s school plays.

I know where I belong, and my Jewish background is firmly rooted in a strong practice of faith that goes back as far as I can trace. I can pass that knowledge forward to the next generation through stories, pictures, and docu-mentation. n

Jewish Genealogy Continued

Jewish History for the Next GenerationBy Jody Axinn

Jody’s great-great-grandfather, Morris Mendelow, who was born in 1853.

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Forty years ago, when I was in college, I began researching my family history. My first interview was with my grandmother, who gave me a sense of what it was like to be a young immigrant Jewish woman in America in the 1920s. She also gave me a list of her aunts, uncles, and cousins that later helped me connect to family members who came to the U.S. in the 1930s, to relatives in Israel, and to those who remained in Russia until the 1990s. Over the next few years, I recorded similar conversations with my parents and other grandparents about what they remembered.

Next, I read and preserved old documents. I was fortunate that a grandfather had written a short journal of his life, describing how he spent a summer with his grandparents in the Lithuanian village of Sereje in 1899 before coming to America. He mentioned the name of the boat. The passenger manifest was available at the National

Archives (on microfilm in those days), so I was able to look for his family. Interestingly, no Keilsons were listed, but there was a family named Kielye with the same first names as my grandfather, his parents, and siblings. I assumed it was a transcription mistake.Searching SerejeIn the mid-1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I hired a researcher to look for Keilson records in the town of Sereje and remembered the surname difference so I could tell the researcher to look for Kielye. He found no Keilson families, but a long list of Kielyas, including the birth certificate of my great-grandfather (June 1850), the marriage certificate of my great-great-grandparents (1849) and birth, marriage, and death certificates of Kielyas going back to the mid-1700s. These clearly are my ancestors, though I have no explanation for why the family name changed.

Jewish Genealogy Continued

Forty Years of Genealogical SuccessBy Jerrold Keilson

Jerrold Keil-son’s grand-parents, Ben-jamin and May (Berger) Keilson. She was born in Ivye, Lithuania (now Belarus). She was one of 12 children, 11 girls and one boy. She

came to the U.S. before World War I, but some of her sisters were not able to leave until after the war. Several went to Israel, where their families still live. Other cous-ins could not get out and were killed by the Nazis. May’s father, Jerrold’s great-grandfather, was named Joseph Da-vid Berger. He owned a large timber mill in Ivye. He was married twice, first to a woman named Rachel Bakst, and then, after she died in childbirth, to her sister, Sarah Bakst. The Bakst family was very well-to-do. A memoir a cousin wrote in the 1970s described how in the early 1800s the Bakst grandfather had a library of more than 2,000 volumes in five languages – all of which he could read.

continued on page 18

Jerrold Keilson’s great-grandfather, Menachem Mendel Zuber, lived in Schedrin, a small town near Bobruisk in Belarus. His wife was named Shana Okun. Menachem Mendel also was a schochet. He was a Lubovitcher and had nine children, including Jerrold’s grand-mother. He was murdered by Cossacks in 1919. His wife, Jerrold’s great-grandmother, passed away in the mid-1960s at 96 years of age.

Of the Zuber family, four came to the U.S. from 1914-1922 (Jerrold’s grandmother and her sister came in 1922). The oldest brother, Jacob Zuber for whom Jer-rold is named, was a Lubovitch rabbi in Latvia and then in Sweden during WWII and settled in Boston after the war. One brother was shot by the Russians in 1937 for sup-posedly being a spy. Another brother and his family were killed in 1941 by Hitler. The last brother fought in WWII for the Soviets and settled in Novosibirsk, along with the baby sister and their mother (Shana). Jerrold’s family was not in touch with them until 1966, when my grandmother received a letter from the sister. They all have left Russia and are living in the U.S. or Israel.

Several branches of that family have remained leaders of the Lubovitch/Chabad movement to the present.

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In January 2002, my son Yossi graduated from the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. After graduation Yossi attended March of the Living to Czechoslovakia and Poland followed by several months in Israel. My father’s family was from Krakow, Poland. The day before Yossi was to visit Krakow, it occurred to me that I should Google my grandfather’s name, Shaul Maj, to see if I could find anything. In my family, first names usually alternated each generation between Shaul and Mayer (Meir). My search brought me to the voting records of Krakow from 1909 and 1913 and listed my grandfather with his occupation, address, neighborhood, and so forth. I immediately contacted Yossi to relay what I found so he might inquire while in the city. The next day I went to work at HP Computer Corporation and excitedly told all my friends about what I had found. Suddenly, someone in the background shouted out, “So, how did he vote?”Back 500 YearsSeveral years passed and one evening my wife, Marleen, and I watched a DVD about genealogy. Once again, I went to Google and entered my grandfather’s name. The original site with the Krakow voting records was no longer available.

Fortunately, I had captured everything I needed years earlier. But this time I didn’t find my grandfather. Instead I found my grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather in 1835. I then went down the tree and found my name, my wife, and two of our three children. There was no doubt that this was the right tree. I then went back up the tree and found that it went back 500 years! I asked permission for collaboration from the owner of the tree, but this took a full month. In the meantime, I registered with the Geni site for free and began to manually copy the tree. My wife joined and began working on her tree, and soon we found we could merge our trees. We notified other family members, and they joined the effort. My father had worked for years on our tree, as had Marleen’s uncle. Within a short time, compiling all of our information and the work of our relatives, we eclipsed the previous work of my father and Marleen’s uncle. We found and contacted relatives we never knew we had. We joined some of them on Facebook as well. It is an amazing age that we live in, and the world is being redefined as we speak. n

Jewish Genealogy Continued

Two-Part Genealogical Googling By Eliezer May

ROSS FAMILY continued from page 12Bank immigration ticket information could be found in two places – the Salt Lake City Mormon genealogy center and the Philadelphia Jewish Archives now located at Temple Uni-versity. I knew from past experience that the Mormon center took seven weeks to respond to inquiries. A small donation to the Philadelphia Jewish Archives shortened their delivery time from seven weeks to 30 minutes, and I soon received an email link to the ticket information I sought.

Isaac Kooper was listed as the ticket purchaser. More impor-tantly, for my purposes of authenticating that I had the correct Isaac Cooper, his address was listed as 406 West Front Street, Wilmington. I knew this was Isaac David Cooper’s original ad-dress, so I had found the right family. The only part that didn’t make sense was that the passengers’ last names were Czernin. Czernin to RossHow did Czernin morph into Ross? Perhaps when Chaim Leib and his family arrived at Ellis Island on March 25, 1892, the American clerk requested his name. Chaim Leib probably responded in a thick accent that the clerk did not understand. The clerk may have then asked where the family was from and perhaps Chaim Leib said Russia or Roosha, and the clerk assigned them the Anglicized last name Ross.

To get to the United States, the family probably travelled the 900 miles by train from Minsk to the port of Hamburg, Germany. On March 10, 1892, they boarded the SS Taormina and set sail for the United States. The ship manifest listed our family under the names Chaim Czernin (age 44), Lea (34), Feige (17), Jankol (15), Chave (eight), Hirsch (seven), Zelda (two), and Israel (11 months). Chaim Leib’s occupation was listed as arbeiter, which in German means laborer. The ship carried 431 passengers, and the Ross family bunked in steerage. The tickets for the SS Taormina were $20.50 for an adult and $10.25 for a child. The two youngest children did not require tickets. Since Isaac Cooper was making $1 a day working at Wilmington’s Adas Kodesch, an Orthodox shul, as their shamash or sexton, he must have had to work for a while to save the money. The Ross family lived in Wilmington until about 1904 and then moved 45 miles north to Camden, New Jersey, where they established a plumbing business.

Our ancestors endured a great deal in Russia during the late 19th century, including difficult economic conditions, pogroms, and anti-Semitism. The quality of life we enjoy today is in large part due to their sacrifices and commitment to make a better life for the generations that followed. n

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Before I researched my maternal grandfather, Sam Yaffey, our family knew only he had come from Kovna, a province of Lithuania, his parents were Wulf and Miriam Yaffey, and he had immigrated to America around 1892. We also knew he had been a cheder teacher and had a brother (name unknown) in Aus-tralia who had a daughter named Miriam. In researching Sam on Jew-ishgen, LitvakSIG, and other sites, I realized it was critical to find the name of his shtetl, because Lithu-anian records were archived accord-ing to a family’s legal residence.

Two years ago, I wondered if I might find Sam’s shtetl through his brother. Internet searches were fruitless. A cousin in Sydney rec-ommended a genealogist friend who might help. We discovered a candidate fitting the data for Sam’s brother: Isaac Jacob Yaffie, whose parents were Wulf and Miriam and who had a daughter, Miriam. From the Australian National Archives, I purchased a copy of Isaac’s naturalization application, which identified his shtetl as Yanove (or Jonava) in Lithuania. Checking LitvakSIG’s All Lithuanian Database (ALD), we found him – Eiszik Iankel, living in Jonava with parents Vulf and Mera (diminutive of Miriam) Iofe. Checking ALD for Shakhna (Sam’s Hebrew name) Iofe in Jonava, I found Sam (b. 1856).Teaching in Grand ForksSam, his wife, Rose, and four daughters born in Lithuania came to America in July 1892, according to his application for naturalization filed with the District Court of Grand Forks, N.D., on November 6, 1893. He had gone to Grand Forks to accept a position with B’nai Israel as cheder teach-

er, shamas, and an organizer of the synagogue’s religious school. He was Baal Shakhrit for the High Holidays and a bar mitzvah tutor.

In 1898, he left Grand Forks for St. Paul, where Rose had family. There he became a teacher-rabbi at a small shul; later he had his own shtiebel. He may have taught at the school of ‘BJ,’ the largest Ortho-dox shul in town. In 1907, his daugh-ter Anna married Jake. BJ’s senior rabbi, JH, had Sam fired and had all local shuls deny him teaching posi-tions. JH was infuriated with Sam for allowing Anna to marry a man with-out a Jewish education. (Jake’s father, Rose’s brother and a heretic, had re-fused to give Jake one.) Jake was not a suitable son-in-law to a man educated

as a teacher-rabbi, and JH considered Sam, according to the Babylonian Talmud, unfit to teach. Blackballed Sam was blackballed for more than 20 years. He became a melamed (private teacher) and shamas at three neighbor-hood shuls, hardly providing for his family. His eight chil-dren had to work; none finished school. In early 1929, Sam became terminally ill. JH apologized for the problems he had created.

Sam died that June. Even though he never held a formal teaching position after 1907, he had made scores of friends because of his warmth and desire to share his knowledge. Many in the Jewish community disapproved of JH’s treat-ment of him. Hundreds attended Sam’s memorial service. More followed the funeral procession to the cemetery, and the shiva house overflowed. n

Jewish Genealogy Continued

Sam’s gravestone, inscribed: “Reb Shakhna, son of Reb Ze’ev Wulf, the Levite. He toiled in Torah and Mitzvoth.”

Sam Yaffey, Toiling in TorahBy Stanley Baldinger

BRUCKHEIM FAMILY continued from page 13the purpose of my visit. He took me to a records room and showed me the original birth, death, and marriage certificates for my entire family! I made copies of these for posterity. I then asked for the location of the cemetery. He asked whether I wanted the Jewish or Christian cemetery. When I said Jewish, he phoned the local pharmacist. Why the pharmacist? It turned out that this gentleman, fluent in English and not Jewish, was also the caretaker of the Jewish cemetery. He did this without being paid, although the

German government paid for any maintenance and repairs. We found my great-grandparents’ gravestones, which had been repaired after being defaced during WWII. I took pictures of the gravesite and said Kaddish. It was a very emotional experience for me to finally visit the place I had heard so many stories about from my grandfather.

Then the pharmacist and I went back to the main restaurant in Uehlfeld, where we shared schnitzel and beer and talked about life. n

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Applying to Beth El Preschool for 2014-2015Applications for Beth El Preschool for the 2014-2015 school year are now available and must be completed by December 15. Beth El preschool offers classes for children ages 20 months to five years.

Tours of the preschool will be given in December. They will give you a wonderful opportunity to observe our vibrant preschool classrooms in action as well as to meet with Preschool Director Kim Lausin. Please call the preschool office at 301-652-8569, ext. 307, to schedule a tour and request an application.

Please note that enrollment priority is given to current Beth El members. Tour Dates (adults only)Thursday, December 5, 9:30 amWednesday, December 11, 7:00 pm

The same grandfather and his siblings held monthly Family Circle meetings in New York from 1937-1952. They kept minutes of their meetings, which were given to me. The minutes mentioned family members who had lived in Pittsburgh and Cleveland; none of my family knew about these relatives. I was able to trace that descendants of that branch of the family and have been able to facilitate meetings between third and fourth cousins all around the country.

Playing Jewish Geography (the game of “You are from Boston. Do you know so and so?”) has also helped. Because I knew many of my relatives’ surnames, I was able to find connections. A few years ago, former Religious School Director Louis Nagel mentioned that his father-in-law’s surname was Okun, a name also in my genealogy. I gave Louis a short history and chart I had put together. He shared it with his father-in-law in Israel, who said many of the Okuns on my chart were his cousins.

I have been able to trace some of my family trees back 250 years. My success is attributable to some luck, careful record-keeping by my grandparents and others, a bit of a pack-rat mentality, and patience. n

KEILSON FAMILY continued from page 15

We carry tefillin, a wide selection of mezzuzot, and great gifts for any occasion, including bnai mitzvah and Shabbat.

New items arriving daily.

Come visit us:Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 4:00-6:15 pm

Sundays, 9:30 am -12:30 pmOr by appointment. Contact Michelle Gips or Debbie Olchyk at

infor@bethelmc.org, 301-652-2606

Volunteer in the shop and get 10 percent off.

Beth El Judaica & Gifts is a project of Beth El Sisterhood.

Beth El Judaica & Gifts

The book contained a brief biography of his father, who was the Delft club champion in 1937-1938. We confirmed my father’s recollection that the Dutch newspapers extensively documented his “kidnapping” in his grandfather’s failed at-tempt to take him to Jerusalem in 1947.

In addition, through a Dutch memorial Web site, we lo-cated a woman who was the daughter of his father’s college friends. She had letters written by and about his parents dur-ing the war as their friends rallied to help. The letters suggest that my father might have survived partially due to false pa-pers issued by Dr. Hans Calmeyer, a German official honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.

At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, due to newly available records from the International Tracing Service, we were able to get confirmation of his father’s arrest and death.

Through programs held by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, I learned about options for obtain-ing naturalization and other vital records. The Congressional Record confirms another family story – that his grandfather traveled briefly to Cuba to obtain citizenship, as it was one of the few places that had not filled the quota for legal emi-gration. According to the bill, it took just under a week to procure that citizenship. Once his grandfather was able to come to the U.S. legally, he began the paperwork to bring my father from the Netherlands. My father, age 10, arrived in the U.S. in 1951.

My latest research has focused on my father’s grandfa-ther’s siblings, who came to the U.S. in the early 20th cen-tury. It has been an amazing puzzle to put together so far, and I am sure that more fascinating details await.

Miriam is the daughter of Beth El congregants Ginger and Bob Teitel. n

A DUTCH ORPHAN continued from page 13

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Soul Surfer A Courageous StoryIn the 2011 biographical film Soul Surfer, thirteen-year-old Bethany Hamilton has a tragic surfing accident that could have ended her life and her passion. Recovering from losing her left arm in a shark attack is difficult but all she can think about is getting back on her board. A surfer her whole life, Bethany’s courage doesn’t let her stop what she loves to do and is famous for.

This relates to the story of Jonah and the whale. He risked his life when he told the captain of the boat to throw him overboard since he was the cause of the storm. They both chose to show ometz lev (courage).

“He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery,” wrote Anne Frank, another courageous young woman. Anne Frank was brave because, unfortunately she lived during the time of the Holocaust, and was forced to hide from the Nazis. Although Bethany wasn’t hiding, she courageously waited until she was well enough to return to surfing.

Anne Frank’s quote describes both of them, as they each expressed courage, never giving up, and both were never forgotten.

MOVIE REVIEWSThe Devil’s Arithmetic is a 1999 TV movie based on the historical novel of the same

name by Jane Yolen. It is a story about how a girl can find her in-ner courage, which is a very important Jewish value.

In the story, Chaya, the main character, is not finding mean-ing in her religion and is losing faith. She experiences an incred-ible change when she opens the front door to get away from a Pesach seder. Chaya is transported back in time to World War II during the Holocaust. Experiencing the horrors of the camps first hand, she finds more meaning in her Jewish identity, and shows extreme courage by later sacrificing her life when she

trades places with her friend.“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righ-

teous are bold as a lion.” This is a quote from the Tan-ach, Proverbs 28:1. In the beginning of the story, Chaya is “wicked,” for she neglected to absorb or consider any Jewish values. In the end, Chaya is “righteous” and “bold as a lion” when she sacrifices herself because she realizes the importance of Judaism and its values.

4UWORd ScRaMblE

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7. r h a s a _ _ _ _ _ 8. c a c b e e r _ _ _ _ _ _ _

9. l r e a c h _ _ _ _ _ _ 10. k a k u h n h a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

WORd bank: abraham, Moses, Hanukkah, Mussar, Joseph, Middah, Ometz lev, Sarah,Rebecca, Rachel

The beth El 7th grade Religious School students created this page about the importance of ometz lev (courage) with the assistance of their teachers Rabbi laurie Green, candice Goldstein, Sheldon novek and Ruth Szykman.

Ometz

Lev

acROSS:2. Being tough, mentally or

physically3. Making the mind feel

what the heart knows (in Hebrew)

5. The holiday when we light the hanukkiah

6. The Hebrew term for a character trait/value

8. Leader of the Maccabees10. The Hebrew term for

courage11. The quality that enables a

person to face difficulty, danger or pain without fear

dOWn:1. Famous Torah quote for

someone in need (Deut. 31:6)4. Biblical king who defeated

the giant, Goliath7. Heroes of Hanukkah9. Stood up to his father who

made idols

cROSSWORd puzzlE

Across:2. Strong3. Mussar5. Hanukkah6. Middah

8. Judah10. Ometz Lev11. Courage Down:1. Be strong and

of good courage

4. King David7. Maccabees9. Abraham

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Last year my family hosted two other Beth El families for Shabbat dinner for the Lighten Up: Friday Night Invites pro-gram. Geryl Baer, director of community engagement, matched us with two families with children of similar ages to ours, and the evening was a big hit.

My 11-year-old daughter had already met the two other girls through Religious School classes and a weekend retreat, but the parents and other siblings did not know one another well. The girls immediately hit it off and even decided to put on a show for the parents after dinner. The three girls attend different middle schools and would likely not get together if not for Religious School and events like Lighten Up.

I often reflect how fortunate I am to live in an area with such a large and vibrant Jewish community. I feel a sense of joy buying a challah on Friday afternoon and seeing a line of people all doing the same. However, the size of the com-munity can sometimes mask the need to meet with other Jewish families in smaller settings. I know it is important for my children not just to be part of a large Jewish community but to make connections with other Jewish families who are “doing Jewish” together. My son knows there are Jewish players on his baseball team, but it is not the same as sharing a Shabbat dinner with friends who are participating in Jew-ish rituals together.

This year, Lighten Up: Friday Night Invites will take place throughout February. I encourage all of you to open your homes to other Beth El families as part of the Lighten Up program.

If you are unable to host but would like to participate and meet new families, you may also sign up to be a guest. Contact Geryl Baer at gbaer@bethelmc.org or 301-652-8569, ext. 352, for more information. n

My Lighten Up DinnerBy Rona Schwartz

Age & Stage Parenting Series Presents

Co-Parenting: Tips for Divorced Parents

Sunday, December 8, 10:30 am

Featuring Dr. Edward D. FarberAuthor of raising the Kid You Love with the ex You Hate

Dr. Farber is a clinical psychologist specializing in families in transition or conflict.Event is free, but please RSVP to Geryl Baer at gbaer@bethelmc.org or 301-652-8569, ext. 352.

Age & Stage program for empty Nesters presents

No One Size Fits All:An Introductory Home Solutions Workshop

With Margi and Mark Kramer, Kramer Architects

Tuesday, December 10, 7:30 pm,Beth El

In this workshop, we will discuss:

• Redesigning your existing home to meet your needs

• Transitioning to apartment or townhouse living

• Downsizing to a smaller home

• Adapting your home to accommodate family members

Kramer Architects, Bethesda, has designed homes in the Washington metropolitan area for more than 30 years. RSVP by Thursday, December 5, to Geryl Baer at gbaer@bethelmc.org or 301-652-8569, ext. 352.

21

Contributionsplease remember that contributions can be made easily, quickly, and securely via our Web page – www.bethelmc.org

Donations made from October 1 to October 24 Beth el ForestIn Honor Of: Ruth Zaentz’s special birthday by Julia P. CoppermanIn Memory Of: Dorothy Koch, mother of Barbara Eisenstein, by Joan and Joel Simon

Beloved brother, Solomon Joseph Ozarin, by Lucy OzarinBuilding Fund/Capital CampaignIn Honor Of: Leaders of the Kol Haneshama High Holiday service by Sandy and Dick Pollen

Benjamin Harris becoming a bar mitzvah by Sandy and Dick Pollen

Cantor’s FundIn Honor Of: Bar mitzvah of our son, Jeffrey Elias, by Gregg Elias and Mindy Ginsburg

In Memory Of: Simone Lipman by Robert LipmanChevra Kadisha FundIn Memory Of: Ron Raffel by Janice RaffelRuth Becker Holiber by Jerome A. HoliberIsak Gruenberg by Helene Weisz, Bernie Weisz, and familiesShirley Samet and Claire Rosoff by Janice Raffel and Robert Samet

Disabled Access FundIn Memory Of: Bernard Berger by Brent and Carolyn BergerFine Arts FundIn Memory Of: My father, Merritt L. Koenig, by Bob KoenigGeneral FundBy: Alice G. RichIn Honor Of: Benjamin Lev Harris becoming a bar mitzvah by Judy and Jayson Slotnik, Elissa and Michael Shapiro, Tim and Rochelle Fink, Craig Yokum, Sarah Kalser, Josephine Sanders, Elizabeth Goldman, Annette and Jack Moshman, Dora Weinstein, Howie and Holly Stein, Phyllis and Jeff Lavine, Samuel Boxerman and Debra Vodenos, Yael Greenberg, Rosalie M. Sporn, the Polis family, Leesa Fields and Jonathan Band, Julia P. Copperman, Jim and Leslie Dellon, Carol and Bob Luskin, David and Rachel Roscow, Vera and Ralph Deckelbaum, Sue and Larry Bruser, Hellaine and Irwin Nepo, Esther and Elliot Wilner, Lynn Goldin and Henry Birnkrant, Andrew Niebler and Beth Pincus, Benjamin Fassberg, William, Sue, and David Kanter, Jose and Tutti Sokol, Martha Strauss, Reina Lerner, Anne and Martin Rosensky, Michael Mandel, Henrietta Asen, Karen and Andrew Auerbach, Deborah Leibowitz, Miriam Israel, Sheryl, Lee, Lindsey, and Amanda Miller, Sid and Janet Getz, Ben and Suzanne Bronheim, Carolyn Lodish, Carl M. Leventhal, Rose and Sam Saady, Jack and Stephanie Ventura, and Jerry, Shelly, Robbie, and Jennie Belson

Rabbi Greg and Rebekah Harris and family on Benjamin’s bar

mitzvah by Hal Scheinberg and Roberta Lasken, Susan and Edoardo Kulp and family, and Sabina Shalom

Rabbi Greg and Rebekah Harris on their 10th anniversary at Beth El by Paul and Carolyn Weinberg

Craig Futterman’s care and dedication by Nina, Shlomit, and Miriam Halachmi

Evan Krame for Kol Haneshama High Holiday services by Phyllis and Steve Solomon

Craig Futterman’s Hatan Torah honor by Brenda Gruss and Daniel O. Hirsch

Hazzan Emeritus Abraham Lubin by Craig YokumOur Kohen aliyah at the Kol Haneshama Yom Kippur service by Adam and Jennifer Chaikin

Our Kohen aliyah on Rosh Hashanah at Beth El by Adam and Jennifer Chaikin

Marci Kanstoroom, for her work with the Religious School by David Kessel and Rona Schwartz

Larry Sidman’s special birthday by Marvin YudkovitzMy sister and brother-in-law, Kay Klass and Mark Levitt, and in gratitude to Beth El during Yom Kippur, by Tim Klass

Naomi Sokol, daughter of Ariel and Jessica Sokol, and granddaughter of Tutti and Jose Sokol, by Opera Havurah

Our Yom Kippur aliyah by Estee and Elliott PortnoyDoug Bregman by Howard and Susan WeissAmy Goott’s birthday by Linda KupferIn Memory Of: Daniel Shrago by Jeffrey ShragoHerbert Brenner by Lynne GanekRita Margolis, mother of Susan Stillman, by David Kessel and Rona Schwartz, Wynne and Ron Sitrin, and Phyllis and Steve Solomon

My son, Chuck Oliner, and my father, Sol Strauss, by Gertrude Oliner and family

Tessie Mirengoff by Paul MirengoffIrving Horn and Theodore Schatz by Stuart and Linda SchatzAllen B. Kahn by Marcia MerlinIrving P. Cohn by Dale GoldOur beloved Bernard Bobb, father of Anita Ratain, by Howard and Anita Ratain

Marjora Minska by Helene Weisz, Bernie Weisz, and familiesMy mother, Rebecca Zagoria, by Etta KlineMy mother, Nusha Shaff, by Hilda and Mike GetzEsther Chubin, mother of Herbert Chubin and grandmother of Ellen Chubin Epstein, by Ellen and David Epstein

Beloved sister, Audrey Goldberg, by Sabina ShalomThomas P. Gold by Dale and Harvey GoldMartin Lipman by Robert LipmanBoris Dvorkin by Etia DvorkinaRose Friedman, beloved mother of David Friedman, by Harriet Rabin

L. David Korb by Gail KorbJacob Rosensky by Martin and Anne RosenskyFannie Kelner, mother of Robert Kelner, by Eric and Amy Forseter

Harry Niedermayer and Sidney Ross by Roy Niedermayer and Gail Ross

Rabbi Paul Hirsch by Walter Schimmerling and Raquel MaselSheldon Sherman, father of Andrew Sherman, by Mark and Joanne Jacobson

22

Herbert Heinemann, uncle of Howard Stein, by Howard and Holly Stein

Thelma Tessler Solomon by Steve SolomonJohn Rosen, son of Marianne and Art Rosen, by Arthur and Marianne Rosen

Rivkah Scharfstein, beloved mother, by Tutti Sokolelaine Silverman Gessow College Activities FundIn Honor Of: Bar mitzvah of Benjamin Harris, son of Rabbi Greg and Rebekah Harris, by Brenda and Jim Schmand

In Memory Of: Harlee S. Popick, mother of Barbara P. Rosing, by Barbara P. Rosing

Mother and grandmother, Sarah Greenberg, by Brenda, Jim, Josh, and Carly Schmand

Kesher Nashim FundIn Honor Of: Nancy Kay by Lori and Steve RossIn Memory Of: Miriam Altman by Judith BaldingerKimball Nursery School FundIn Memory Of: Civia Berman and Evelyn Berman by Stuart BermanBernardo Kotelanski, M.D. Marriage education FundIn Memory Of: Evelyn Ginsberg by Phillip and Vivian GordenLibrary FundIn Honor Of: Rabbi Harris officiating at the wedding of our daughter, Marissa, to Matthew Rosenfeld, by Susan and Jeffrey Hausfeld

In Memory Of: Bernard I. Miller by Sharon BerzofskyIrving Troffkin by Rhea and Howard TroffkinBernard Jacobi by Susan BruckheimLitman holocaust education FundIn Honor Of: Our granddaughter Maya Cohen-Shields’ bat mitzvah by Ruth and Benjamin Cohen

In Memory Of: Beno Hoffman by Rosanne Hoffman and Robert ByerMazonIn Honor Of: Sue Rosenthal’s 80th birthday by Murray and Gerri Rottenberg

In Memory Of:Lillian Kessler by Julia P. CoppermanFrances Dellon by Jim and Leslie DellonMerim Varsano by Ricardo VarsanoMy parents, Leonard and Dorothy Rubin, by Sharyn Schlesinger

Deborah Gabry by Jerome and Mona GabryEmanuel and Bess Sickel by Hugh V. and Ruth Z. SickelMintz Landscaping FundIn Memory Of: Hannah Ross by Rhoda MancherHerman Altschul, father of Carolyn Feigenbaum, by Kenneth and Carolyn Feigenbaum

Morning Minyan FundIn Honor Of: Peter Novick, for his leadership of the Shabbat Early Morning Minyan, by Herb Bloom

In Memory Of: Ann Pollack by Judy GoldmanCharlotte Resnick by Hellaine and Irwin NepoBeloved mother, Edna Routhenstein, by Irene Routhenstein and Shirley R. Levine

Beloved brother, Abe Chinn, by Sarah KalserDearest sister, Goldie Sturm, by Mary DubrowMyron Kirschbaum, father of Caryl Brody, by Caryl BrodyMy beloved father, Irving A. Levine, by Susan LevinsonRose Minker, mother of Jack Minker, by Jack and Johanna Minker

perspectives FundIn Memory Of: Morris Nepo, brother of Irwin Nepo, by Larry and Bettymerle Berkow

pillars of Beth elIn Memory Of: Louis A. Cohen by Susan A. Cohenprayerbook FundIn Honor Of: Congregants who sent me good wishes during my illness by Lucy Ozarin

Rabbi’s FundIn Honor Of: Rabbi Rudolph for officiating at our wedding by Benjamin Bregman and Jessica Agus

Bar mitzvah of Benjamin Harris by Sheryl and Ira Fishman, Margi and Mark Kramer, Parker O’Shea, the Arnold family, the Gold family, Burton S. and Diane E. Epstein, Scott, Julie, Lydia, and Caroline Zebrak, Don and Michelle Hainbach, Rebecca and Anthony Millin, Phyllis and Steve Solomon, Karen Levy and Mitch Rabinowitz, Estee and Elliott Portnoy, Jennifer Latz and Jonathan Polon, Jack and Johanna Minker, Allen Eisenberg and Connie Stromberg, Mark Gladstone, Jonathan Pollack and Barbara Marom-Pollack, Wynne and Ron Sitrin, Sandy and Norton Elson, Ina and Joe Young, Lee Hoffman and Leslie Whipkey, Jill Herscot and Andrew Bartley, Lee and Donna Dymond, Vanessa, Ben, Isabelle, Hannah and Evelyn May, Rosine and Robert Nussenblatt, and Barbara and Allen Lerman

Rabbi Greg and Rebekah Harris on the bar mitzvah of their son, Benjamin Lev Harris, by Howard J. Hoffman, Dov and Sharon Margolis Apfel and family, and Helen and Arthur Popper

Rabbi Harris’s participation in the brit milah ceremony for our grandson, Oliver Ethan (Orel Shalom) Cardeli, son of Seth and Lori Apfel Cardeli, by Dov and Sharon Margolis Apfel

Beth El clergy by Ina and Jerome WernickRabbis Rudolph and Harris for welcoming Friends of the Earth-Middle East by Howard J. Hoffman

Rabbi Harris for officiating at the bris of our son, Oliver Ethan, by Seth and Lori Apfel Cardeli

Rabbi Rudolph for officiating at the baby naming of Lila Federowicz, by the Levitt and Federowicz families

Contributions Continued

23

Bar mitzvah of our son, Jeffrey Elias, by Gregg Elias and Mindy Ginsburg

Marriage of our son, Mark Howard Wernick, to Fayette Powers, by Ina and Jerome Wernick

My High Holiday honor by Doris L. PovichOur aliyah by Jorge and Sharona SapoznikowSpeedy recovery of Lee Alexander, son of Ellen Alexander, by Parker O’Shea

In Memory Of: Anna Dickler by Elliott and Phyllis DicklerRosalind Epstein by Burton S. and Diane EpsteinLillie Lefkowitz by Jerry and Fay CherninJoseph Golickman by Libby and Harvey GordonSydney M. Ratcliffe by Mimi and Arthur BlitzLiba Goldberg by Harriet WeinsteinMoshe Friedman by Sarah FriedmanStephen Loewinger by Andrew LoewingerWilliam Davis by Libby and Harvey GordonAbraham Daniel Tepper by Jonathan TepperBarry R. Harris by Sandy Harris and familyMy father-in-law, Itzhak Friedman, by Sarah FriedmanSol Feldman by Cary FeldmanJean Miller by Jay MillerEva Gillman by Samuel GillmanJoel Cadoff by Dorene and Joseph RosenthalScolnic Adult Institute FundIn Honor Of: Birthday of Sara Geller’s father by Albert FoxIn Memory Of: Jennie Nichaman, my beloved mother-in-law, by Rhoda Nichaman

Isadore Edgar Fassberg, father of Benjamin C. Fassberg, by Benjamin C. Fassberg

Edith Weisz by Helene Weisz, Bernie Weisz, and familiesHerman Abromowitz by Ellen BeznerCharles Lefkowitz by Jerry and Fay CherninSenior Caucus FundIn Memory Of: My beloved grandmother, Gertrude Parkoff Schultz, by Tricia Sachs

Dr. elaine L. Shalowitz education FundIn Memory Of: My beloved father, Aaron L. Shalowitz, by Erwin ShalowitzEmily Drachman by Elizabeth and Richard DrachmanSimos Music FundIn Memory Of: Ethel Gluckstein by Lillian MillerSisterhood Kiddush FundIn Memory Of: Hilda Shamash Sidman, beloved wife and mother, by Larry Sidman

Rosalind Salomon by Caryl BernsteinSisterhood Shiva Meal FundIn Honor Of: Our Yom Kippur aliyah by Ellen and Norman EuleIn Memory Of:Anna Epstein, grandmother of Sandra Becker, by Sandra BeckerJudy Edelson by Rebecca Edelson

Lillian Kaplan, mother of Sandra Becker, by Sandra Becker and family

Social Action FundIn Honor Of: Bar mitzvah of Benjamin Harris by Ellen and Norman EuleIn Memory Of:Sandy Sachs, mother of Adam and Lowell Sachs, and sister of Harold Gorvine, by Naomi Greenwood and Thomas Dahl

Ruth D. Vogel by Donna Vogel.Suls Youth Activities FundBy: Elizabeth Goldmanelaine Tanenbaum Religious School enrichment FundIn Honor Of: Marci Kanstoroom for her Kallah Breishit honor by Allen Eisenberg and Connie Stromberg

Bar mitzvah of Benjamin Harris by Marvin and Barbara Kotz, Sanford Kay, Herb Tanenbaum, and the Kales family

The Harris family on the occasion of Benjamin’s bar mitzvah, by Michelle and Paul Rubin

In Memory Of: Harry S. Neiterman, father of Charlotte Resnick, by Bernard Resnick

Isidor Leventhal, father of Carl Leventhal and grandfather of Sarah Leventhal Roark, by Carl Leventhal

Torah Scroll FundBy: Michael Polis and Rhoda BarishIn Honor Of: Craig Futterman for his Hatan Torah honor by Allen Eisenberg and Connie Stromberg

Transportation FundIn Honor Of: Speedy recovery of Marianne and Art Rosen by Rose and Sam Saady

Donna Saady for blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and reading Torah and Haftarah by Rose and Sam Saady

In Memory Of: Florence Tredwell, my sister-in-law, by Julia P. CoppermanAllegra Saady, beloved mother of Sam Saady, by Rose and Sam Saady

Pamela Merwin, beloved sister of Rose Saady, by Rose and Sam Saady

Samuel Kammerman by Lisa KammermanWerner Liturgical Music FundIn Memory Of: My father-in-law, Maurice Cohn, by Jerome HeffterWorld Jewry FundIn Honor Of: Marvin Yudkovitz by Craig YokumYoung equality FundIn Memory Of: Rena Young by Joe and Ina Young

Contributions Continued

Mazal Tov to Alissa Peltzman and Seth Belford on the birth of their son, Charlie Lev Belford-Peltzman. Proud big brother and sister are Ben and Caroline

Linda Goldsmith and Howard Berger on the engagement of their daughter, Emily Berger, to Adam Wolgamot

Sarah Birnbach and Jack Edlow on the birth of their grandson, Christopher James Carbonneau. Proud parents are Rachel Frier and Erik Carbonneau

Rabbi Elyssa Auster and Hazzan Matthew Klein on their engagement

Judy Scolnic on the birth of her first great-granddaughter, Leah Dorothy Dobin. Proud parents are Rachel and David Dobin. Grandparents are Rabbi Benjamin and Dorene Scolnic and Nathan and Harriet Dobin Fischer. Big brothers are Alexander and Avi Dobin.

Jose and Tutti Sokol on the birth of their granddaughter, Naomi Reva Ellie Sokol, daughter of Ariel and Jessica Sokol

Jerome and Ina Wernick on the marriage of their son, Mark Howard Wernick, to Fayette Powers

Condolences to Peter and Debbie Friedmann on the death of Peter’s father, John Friedmann

Martin and Jackie Berman-Gorvine on the death of Martin’s aunt, Sandra Sachs

Karen and Max Sevillia on the death of Karen’s mother, Irit Pienknagura

Susan and Harvey Sherzer on the death of Susan’s mother, Shirley Bell

Jayson and Judy Slotnik on the death of Jayson’s father, Stephen Slotnik

Judy Zassenhaus on the death of her mother, Selma Berkowitz

NoteworthySenior Caucus Meeting, Wednesday, December 4, 1:00 pm. Join these vibrant, active retirees to hear about the on-going programs and plan new activities. Roundtable with the Rabbi, Wednesday, December 4, 2:00 pm. Join us to celebrate December birthdays (yours and those of others) with desserts, coffee, and a lively discus-sion led by Rabbi Rudolph. Birthday celebrants receive a special invitation, but all are welcome.Dor L’Dor, Thursday, December 5, noon. Join the Beth El Preschool (BEPS) 4s Class, Vatikkim, and Senior Caucus for this intergenerational program connecting kids with se-niors. To participate and share pizza with the preschoolers, RSVP to Ricardo Munster at 301-652-2606, ext. 316, or rmunster@bethelmc.org.Senior Caucus – Thursdays, December 12 and 26, noon. Brown bag lunch. Come and socialize with your friends and enjoy refreshments and dessert.Senior Caucus– Vatikkim Luncheon Program, Thursday, December 19, noon. The program starts with lunch. Fol-lowing lunch, congregant Jack Minker, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, will speak about the story of the exodus of Soviet Jews from the former Soviet Union. Bring a friend along as they may find this story fascinating, too. Lunch costs $8. To RSVP for lunch, contact Ricardo Munster at 301-652-2606, ext. 316, or rmunster@bethelmc.org, by Tuesday, De-cember 17. The program is free and begins around 1:00 pm.Bridge – the greatest game ever. Join us every Mon-day and Thursday (except the third Thursday) from 12:30 to 4:00 pm. Drop in and join a game; no partner necessary. For information or transportation, contact Ricardo Munster at 301-652-2606, ext. 316, or rmunster@bethelmc.org.

While we know you’ll want to read every word in this issue of the Scroll, when you’re finished, please recycle it.

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Send submissions to the Scroll to scroll@bethelmc.org

Descriptions of ServicesMinyan Chaverim offers the ruach of the Shabbat services in USY, BBYO, and Hillel. We have a lay-led, tradi-tional, participatory, spirit-filled service, including full repetition of the Shacha-rit and Musaf amidah, as well as the full Torah reading with an interactive Torah discussion. A pot-luck lunch fol-lows the service at a nearby home. For information, contact Debbie Feinstein or Sheryl Rosensky Miller at info@bethelmc.org.

The Worship and Study Minyan is conducted by members of the congregation and combines evocative Torah study with ample singing and ruach. Children are welcome, although the service is oriented toward adults. For information, contact Dan Hirsch, Sid Getz, or Mark Levitt at 301-652-2606, info@bethelmc.org.

Teen Service is a cool service without parents, conducted by and for post-b’nai mitzvah teens, with a great kiddush. To volunteer to read Torah, conduct part of the service, or help with a discussion, contact Aviva Solkowitz at 301-652-2606, info@bethelmc.org

Other Youth /Family Services, for information, contact Elisha Frumkin, 301-652-8573, ext. 319, efrumkin@bethelmc.org.

B e t h E l C a l e n d a r& W e e k l y P a r a s h i o t

Daily Services M-F 7:30 am Sun-Th 8:00 pm Fri 6:30 pm Sun 9:00 am

Shabbat Services (all services are weekly, except as noted) Early Morning Service 7:30 am Main Service 9:30 am Babysitting (2-6 years old) 9:15 am Minyan Chaverim (3rd Shabbat) 9:30 am Worship and Study Minyan (1st Shabbat) 9:45 am

Youth Shabbat Services Teen Service (1st Shabbat) 10:00 am Junior Congregation (5th grade +; Library) 10:00 am Shitufim 10:30-11:30 am (2nd– 4th grades; 2nd & 4th Shabbat; Zahler Social Hall)

Gan Shabbat (kindergarten-2nd grade; 1st & 3rd Shabbat; MP 1&2) 10:30-11:30 am Nitzanim (birth - kindergarten; 2nd, 4th, 5th Shabbat; MP 1&2) 10:30-11:30 am

Weekly ParashiotSource: Siddur Sim Shalom

Va-yiggashDecember 7, 4 Tevet With Benjamin caught in Joseph’s trap, Judah begs to take his brother’s place for Jacob’s sake. Greatly moved, Joseph at last reveals his identity to his brothers. They reconcile, whereupon Joseph has them bring Jacob and the entire family to dwell in Goshen for the duration of the famine. The aged patriarch is formally received at Pharaoh’s court.

Va-yehiDecember 14, 11 TevetJacob, nearing death, blesses Joseph and his sons, Menasheh and Ephraim; he then offers his final words to each of his 12 sons. Pharaoh gives Joseph permission to bury Jacob in Canaan. Later, as Joseph himself is dying, he instructs his kin to carry his remains back to Canaan some day, for surely, he says, God will remember them and return them to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Sh’motDecember 21, 18 TevetA new Pharaoh fears the strength of the growing number of Israelites and enslaves them. He orders their newborn sons slain. Moses, cast adrift in the Nile, is rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and grows up in the royal court. After slaying an Egyptian taskmaster, Moses flees to Midian and marries there. At the Burning Bush, Moses encounters God, who sends him back to Egypt to free the Israelites—only to anger Pharaoh, who increases the slaves’ burden.

Va-eraDecember 28, 25 Tevet God again charges Moses to confront Pharaoh and say, “Let My people go.” Aaron becomes the spokesman for a hesitant Moses, performing a wonder before Pharaoh, but to no avail. Following God’s instructions, Moses calls down seven plagues, increasing in intensity, upon the Egyptians. Pharaoh will not yield.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday1 Hanukkah 4th Day 2 Hanukkah 5th Day 3 Hanukkah 6th Day 4 Hanukkah 7th Day 5 Hanukkah 8th Day 6 Candles 4:28 pm 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 Candles 4:28 pm 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 Candles 4:31 pm 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 Candles 4:35 pm 28

29 30 31 1 New Year’s Day 2 3 Candles 4:40 pm 4

C o n g r e g a t i o n B e t h E lMonthly Calendar

8:30 am Summer Camp Presentation9:00 am Minyan9:30 am Men’s Club Breakfast9:30 am Sisterhood Executive Board

Meeting10:00 am Men’s Club Program10:00 am Age & Stage Program10:00 am RS Kindergarten Consecration7:00 pm Talmud Class

12:30 pm Bridge7:30 pm Boy Scouts

8:15 am A Taste of Talmud6:30 pm Mah Jongg7:30 pm Age & Stage BEENs Program7:30 pm BEPS Board Meeting

9:00 am Rabbi’s Torah Class9:30 am M. Fine Class9:30 am Rabbi’s Haftarah Class7:30 pm BEPS Open House for

Prospective Families

Noon Senior Caucus Brown Bag Lunch1:00 pm Bridge7:00 pm Tallit Workshop 7:00 pm Executive Committee Meeting

Fast of 10 Tevet9:00 am Zhava Parenting Workshop6:30 pm Friday Evening Service6:30 pm Kol Haneshama

7:30 am Early Shabbat Service9:30 am Main Shabbat Service9:30 am Ethan Askarinam Bar

Mitzvah10:00 am Jr. Congregation10:30 am Learners Service10:30 am Nitzanim10:30 am Shitufim3:30 pm Carly Ruderman Bat Mitzvah

9:00 am Minyan9:30 am Men’s Club Breakfast10:00 am Men’s Club Program10:00 am Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class10:00 am L2G Havurah11:00 am 2016 B’nai Mitzvah Meeting7:00 pm Talmud Class

12:30 pm Bridge7:30 pm Boy Scouts7:30 pm Conversations with Key

American Leaders: Chuck Hagel and Ken Feinberg

8:15 am A Taste of Talmud6:30 pm Mah Jongg7:30 pm BEPS Co-op Training

9:00 am Rabbi’s Torah Class9:30 am M. Fine Class9:30 am Rabbi’s Haftarah Class

12:00 pm Senior Caucus Luncheon7:00 pm Tallit Workshop 7:30 pm Knitting Group

6:30 pm Friday Evening Service 7:30 am Early Shabbat Service9:30 am Main Shabbat Service9:30 am Ethan Rifkind Bar Mitzvah9:30 am Minyan Chaverim10:30 am Gan Shabbat7:30 pm Israel Media Series

Offices and Schools Closed9:00 am Minyan9:30 am Men’s Club Breakfast10:00 am Men’s Club Program

Schools Closed12:30 pm Bridge

Schools Closed8:15 am A Taste of Talmud4:30 pm Movies for all ages & Chinese

Dinner

Schools and Offices Closed9:00 am Morning Minyan5:30 pm Evening Minyan

Schools ClosedNoon Senior Caucus Brown Bag Lunch1:00 pm Bridge

Schools Closed6:30 pm Friday Evening Service

7:30 am Early Shabbat Service9:30 am Main Shabbat Service9:30 am Maya Cohen-Shields Bat

Mitzvah10:30 am Nitzanim

Offices and Schools Closed9:00 am Minyan9:30 am Men’s Club Breakfast10:00 am Men’s Club Program

Schools Closed12:30 pm Bridge

Schools Closed8:15 am A Taste of Talmud5:30 pm Evening Minyan

Schools and Offices Closed9:00 am Morning Minyan

Rosh Hodesh ShevatNoon Senior Caucus Brown Bag Lunch1:00 pm Bridge7:00 pm Tallit Workshop8:30 pm Hearing Men’s Voices

6:30 pm Friday Evening Service 7:30 am Early Shabbat Service9:30 am Main Shabbat Service9:30 am Aviva Odintz Bat Mitzvah9:45 am Worship & Study Minyan10:00 am Jr. Congregation10:00 am Teen Service10:30 am Gan Shabbat

6:30 pm Friday Evening Service7:15 pm RS Teacher Recognition Shabbat

Dinner

7:30 am Early Shabbat Service9:30 am Main Shabbat Service9:30 am Ilana Kaplan Bat Mitzvah9:45 am Worship & Study Minyan10:00 am Jr. Congregation10:00 am Teen Service10:30 am Gan Shabbat7:30 pm Havdalah and Community

Sing

Schools and Offices Closed9:00 am Minyan9:30 am Men’s Club Breakfast10:00 am Men’s Club Program10:00 am Adult B’nai Mitzvah Class11:15 am Israel Investment Club7:00 pm Talmud Class

9:30 am Knitting Group12:30 pm Bridge7:30 pm Boy Scouts

8:15 am A Taste of Talmud6:30 pm Mah Jongg

Rosh Hodesh Tevet9:00 am Rabbi’s Torah Class9:30 am M. Fine Class2:00 pm Roundtable with the Rabbi

9:30 am BEPS Open House for Prospective Families

Noon Senior Caucus Dor L’Dor Lunch 1:00 pm Bridge6:30 pm Tallit Workshop - opening

meeting7:30 pm Kesher Nashim8:30 pm Hearing Men’s Voices

December 2013Kislev–Tevet 5774