Beth El

President's Message

by Vivian Forman

I am pleased to bring warm greetings from the Beth El Sisterhood and to thank the many women who are so devoted to our goals and who work so hard to guarantee the success of our endeavors. These dedicated women provide a weekly kiddush on Shabbat and lunch on Yom Tov festivals and special occasions. They provide scholarships for United Synagogue Youth and Kadimah and prepare and send college care packages for our students away at school. We, the Sisterhood women, are responsible for the publishing and printing of the Chronicle. We run the Gift Shop which has a large and lovely selection of Judaica for your home, as well as gifts for special life-cycle occasions. Our capable ladies take care of the Floral Fund, organize and run the garage sale, cater B’nai Mitzvah and baby naming meals, and Meals of Consolation. We prepare the most beautiful and delicious Mishloach Manot - baskets for Purim - and distribute them to our members who are residents of Beth Sholom Home. We are very proud of our participation in Sisterhood Shabbat, when every honor, prayer, aliyah, Torah reading, the sermon, kiddush and Birkat HaMazon is led, delivered, and chanted by our Sisterhood women.

The Torah Fund has been blessed with outstanding leaders who, this past year, raised $11,000 for the Jewish Theological Seminary, where our rabbis, cantors, and educators study for their ordination, investitures, and teaching degrees. We are so proud of this accomplishment. Providing special gifts of need to Beth Sholom Home, equipping our shul kitchens, helping needy members of our community, donating to the Jewish Braille Institute, sending aid to Ethiopian Jews, and being supportive of causes in Israel and where help is needed around the world continue to be important Sisterhood projects.

We are committed to offering meaningful and innovative programming that will interest all of you. This past year we had a successful garage sale, a joint brunch with Men’s Club involving AIPAC representatives, and a beautifully organized and presented Paid-Up Membership dinner when we learned all about our windows in the main sanctuary. Sisterhood prepared the wonderful meals for Rabbi Ruberg’s 20th anniversary weekend, as well as the Scholar-in-Residence weekend, for which we helped with making many phone calls. Our Sisterhood Shabbat in May was exceptional, and we enjoyed a meaningful and musical Torah Fund dessert evening with Temple Israel Sisterhood. An exciting learning experience was had by all who attended our evening of study of Psalms, our final meeting of the year in June.

A new program, “Women about Women,” has been well received. We met in various members’ homes, and one of us prepared a talk about a famous biblical woman. We hope to continue this program in the future with even greater participation.

Through your attendance and involvement, we will be able to nurture our Beth El family. I am happy to let you know that we are a group of women dedicated to working hard so that we may be able to participate in performing many mitz v o t. Please join us in our commitment.

I thank you for honoring me with this awesome responsibility to serve as your president and to work with so many caring women. May our Beth El Sisterhood be blessed with the ability to continue doing mitz v o t, good deeds, many times over and over again.

On behalf of the Beth El Sisterhood officers and Board of Directors, I wish our Beth El family a Shanah Tovah U’Metukah – a good and sweet New Year for 5770.

Vivian Fish Forman
Sisterhood President

Sisterhood Officers

Sisterhood Committee Chairs