Temple Beth El Blog

If you are interested in helping promote racial justice in our community, we would love to have you as part of Temple Beth El’s Racial Justice Action Team. We are a very informal group, but we try to keep the congregation informed of ways to be involved. 

Join us for a special Shabbat in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 12, and watch for our service projects on Mitzvah Day, April 14. We also highlight service and advocacy opportunities in the Weekly Happenings email each Wednesday. 

Contact the team chairs, Betsy Abramson or Marsha Mansfield, if you’d like to be involved.

Recently the Racial Justice Action Team took a fascinating trip to the Milton House Museum, Wisconsin’s only certified underground railroad site (photos from Erica Serlin).

During these final weeks of the match for the Endowment for Spiritual Leadership, please remember that your donation will have extra impact. All pledges, donations, and additional donations received before December 31 are doubled as part of this match, thanks to a generous TBE member.
 
Help us secure the financial future of our spiritual leaders by making your pledge or giving your donation today. If you have any questions, please contact Executive Director Stefanie Kushner at 608-238-3123 or exec@tbemadison.org.

Your 2024 membership renewal materials should be arriving in your mailbox around now. 
The annual contribution you make through the Temple Community Contribution program has a significant impact on our entire community, allowing TBE to thrive and grow. We hope you will consider increasing your support this year to help us meet rising costs. We are grateful that many TBE members have recognized our increasing expenses and adjusted their contributions to help us meet these costs. 

“Temple Beth El has come to mean so much to me and my family. There are countless opportunities for young families. I’ve been able to attend conversations with the rabbi and community members about Israel and eagerly look forward to starting adult b’nai mitzvah classes. Our son feels so much joy when he leaves Sunday school having learned more about Judaism, built his own dreidel, and even gotten some fresh challah!” 
—Jake Hajdu, TBE member since 2023

You can actively renew your membership, choosing your level of giving, by returning the renewal form or by managing your contribution online by December 31, 2023. If you do not submit your renewal information, your membership will automatically renew at the beginning of 2024, with a 5% increase. Please see the renewal materials you received in the mail for more information about how to contribute.
 
As in previous years, we ask you to provide an additional security contribution of $100/household that is used for measures including police officers to be present at TBE for our safety as we worship, learn, and gather for programs. Providing this protection is necessary as we adapt to current events.
 
If you have any questions about your membership renewal, please contact Executive Director Stefanie Kushner at 608-238-3123 or exec@tbemadison.org, or plan to join our Membership Renewal Information Session, via Zoom, on December 13 at 7:00 pm.
 
Every contribution is truly appreciated. We thank you, and we look forward to the meaningful connections that make our TBE community so special.

As you’ve heard, Temple Beth El is in the process of developing a Code of Ethical Conduct for our congregation.

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) has strongly encouraged North American congregations to establish ethics codes to encourage appropriate behavior. The URJ’s initiative is in response to a 2021 investigation of past misconduct in URJ movement spaces that included a recommendation to strengthen ethics accountability efforts.

To be clear, no ethical violations have been reported at Temple Beth El; we are developing our ethics code in line with the URJ’s movement-wide initiative.

We look forward to joining the 70+ congregations on the fast-growing list of congregations that have completed their ethics code.

The process of developing the code is almost complete, and you can expect to hear more about this in early 2024.

We thank the task force members for their work in developing the code for our congregation and the Board of Trustees for their feedback in the process.

Please contact Leslie Coff, president, or Stefanie Kushner, executive director, with any questions. 

Thank you to all who contributed to the Book of Remembrance and donated when registering a non-TBE member (such as a relative or a friend) to attend High Holy Day worship. The revenue generated from these donations contributes to our operating revenue and is used to support Temple Beth El’s programs and services throughout the year. 

The Book of Remembrance donations totaled over $5,000. The High Holy Day donations for nonmember registrations to attend High Holy Day worship totaled over $6,000. Thank you, donors! Your support, totaling over $11,000, will help sustain us. 
 

Janice Kaplan (z''l) was a member of Temple Beth El for almost 20 years. She enjoyed seeing her friends at Shabbat and at Temple Beth El dinners and events. She was always quick to greet people and offer everyone her bright and friendly smile.
 
Temple Beth El was a place where Janice felt a sense of belonging and enjoyed sharing Jewish experiences with her friends. As a member of our Dorot Society, she included Temple Beth El in her estate plan—demonstrating her wishes to provide for Temple’s future. We are grateful for Janice’s generous bequest. Her legacy of kindness, and the benefits of her giving, will be felt by all of us. 

If you are interested in more information about planned giving and Temple Beth El’s Dorot Society, please contact Executive Director Stefanie Kushner at 608-238-3123 or exec@tbemadison.org.

“WHY? Because Israel Matters” is Temple Beth El’s forum for learning about Israel’s precarious situation in real time. Taking place this year on four Thursday evenings, we hope to study, discuss, debate, and take away both information about Israel and appreciation for the attitudes and opinions of our TBE members. So come with an open mind. 

ON THIS PAGE below you will find links to resources for our four sessions, which should be available within two weeks of the session date. All should be available without a paywall. Plus, if you will attend and have other resources to share, please click here to contact Rabbi Jonathan so that we can add to the list. Please take an opportunity to read them before coming to discuss with your fellow congregants. 

ALL SESSIONS will be at Temple Beth El, with Zoom available: 

SESSION DATES are: 
Thursday, October 19, 2023 
Thursday, December 21, 2023 
Thursday, April 18, 2024 
Thursday, June 20, 2024 
Click here to register for Why? Because Israel Matters!

RESOURCES: 
October 19 Session I: “The Wars Between the Jews: Do Israelis Listen To One Another?” 

1. “Dizengoff Square on Yom Kippur eve: A stain on Tel Aviv: They screamed at my pregnant wife and pushed me as I held my toddler – and it had nothing to do with gender separation." https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dizengoff-square-on-yom-kippur-eve-a-stain-on-tel-aviv/ 

2. “The state of our brokenness: Something elemental has been desecrated in our shared Israeliness, and Yom Kippur has again forced us to face ourselves." https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-state-of-our-brokenness/  

3. “Dizengoff Erev Yom Kippur: There was magic too: Yom Kippur, Tel Aviv, 5784. In Habima Square, hundreds joined a hastily organized Ne’ila prayer service with no divisions, just astonishment ."https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/there-was-magic-too-yom-kippur-tel-aviv-5784/ 

4. “Yom Kippur and the fight for Israel’s soul: Israelis have been content for too long to let Orthodox Judaism define what is considered legitimate Jewish practice."  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-kol-nidre-prayer-and-the-fight-for-israels-soul/  

It’s a wrap! In partnership with the Jewish Federation of Madison, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dane County, and Centro Hispano, the Racial Justice Action Team just completed its third year of placing high school and college students from the Boys & Girls Club and Centro Hispano in businesses and organizations with top leaders from the Jewish community. 

This year, while we had nine generous and enthusiastic employers eager to host and financially support an intern, the Boys & Girls Club had so many exciting opportunities for students that they only needed five of our sites to host students. As with 2021 (six students placed) and 2022 (11 students placed), all were wildly successful in helping students develop new skills while gaining exposure to the real world of work. Employers similarly were very enthused about the opportunity to benefit from the diverse perspectives, skills, and energy of these young scholars. Thanks to the following Jewish community members and their organizations who hosted them:

Joe Loehnis, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
Michael Ross, Madison Youth Arts
Carousel Bayrd, Community Justice Inc.
Marla and Larry Frank, Frank Productions Concerts Live
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice

Let’s hear about the experiences from the young scholars themselves:

• "The team here [at the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra] is the best and they always make me feel accepted and welcome, and they treat me like they would any other! I feel like my internship has definitely helped confirm a lot of things on what I like and dislike, and what I work best with. For example, on concert nights [Concerts on the Square], I essentially take over the Kids’ Area and I’ve noticed that engaging with children is something I probably wouldn’t mind working with in the future!"
• "There is so much love and community between all of the workers at my internship [at Madison Youth Arts]. There are many places of growth, as well, and ways to improve and move up both personally and professionally." 
• "The internship [at FPC Live] was amazing, I got to me a lot of great people and watched some great shows. This internship taught me a ton about the music/entertainment business and has inspired me to continue my education in marketing."
• "I value new learning experiences as well as being in a workplace that is understanding and accepting. I think that my internship [at Community Justice, Inc.] holds these values right on the spot. I very much enjoyed this internship. I've gotten to work on different projects, and I work with fun people! A highlight at CJI would have to be getting to help Spanish-speaking clients. I knew that there were not a lot of Latine/Hispanic or Spanish-speaking attorneys in the legal field, but seeing the lack of them made me even more motivated to keep pursuing this career." 

The employers were just as enthusiastic and grateful. Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, executive director of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice (WFVJ), wrote: 

“WFVJ is deeply grateful to Temple Beth El and the Jewish Federation of Madison for funding to allow us to hire an intern this summer. Our intern focused on a project to create a series of toolkits on immigration justice and the Dane Sanctuary Coalition. This toolkit will empower congregations to engage in education, advocacy, and volunteering for immigration justice and the work of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition. Hiring an intern has given us the needed capacity to move this project forward.”

For the last three years, Temple Beth El has received a generous $10,000 grant from the Jewish Federation of Madison’s Cheryl Rosen Weston Fund to support the project and the 22 students we placed. We are now passing the names of all 11 generous employers from the Jewish community to the Boys & Girls Club to continue and expand the Jewish community’s involvement in offering these summer internships. If you know of or work for a business or organization that would be interested in hosting a student for up to 20 hours/week for 6 weeks next summer, please contact Betsy Abramson (BetsyAbramson@gmail.com or 608-332-7867).

Please join us for a multicultural community dinner cooked by Bakht Mohammad, on Sunday, October 1, 5:00–8:00 pm, in the Swarsensky Social Hall. Chef Mohammad is an evacuee from Afghanistan who has started his own catering business, Afghan Kabul Cuisine.
 
“Tables Across Borders” is co-hosted by Temple Beth El and Jewish Social Services (JSS). It is one of a series of multicultural community dinners highlighting the cuisines and cultures of local chefs who are refugees or who are seeking asylum. The goals of this project, according to Kai Gardner Mishlove, executive director of JSS, are to provide a pathway to employment for JSS clients, build bridges between local ethnic communities, decrease antisemitism and racism, and foster cross-cultural understanding. The Madison dinners build on the success of similar dinners in Milwaukee.

Registration closes on Wednesday, September 27, so sign up today! All proceeds go to the chefs to help them build their businesses. Please contact Jim Mackman (jim@jssmadison.org) if you would like to attend the dinner but have difficulty affording it. 

The High Holy Day Food Drive is a long-standing holiday tradition at Temple Beth El, when our congregants honor our day of fasting by making a monetary contribution for hunger relief. Our TBE community understands that having adequate food has a huge impact on one’s health and well-being. This is especially true for children who are developing physically, cognitively, and socially. If you haven’t done so already, you can contribute to the High Holy Day Food Drive until October 12. You can donate online under the “Giving” tab, or mail a check to Temple with “High Holy Day Food Drive” in the memo.

In addition to the High Holy Food Drive, the TBE Social Action Committee works on hunger relief all year. In October and November, our Religious School students and parents donate hundreds of food items to the Goodman Community Center Thanksgiving Basket Collection. Our volunteers also serve free community meals at Catholic Multicultural Center once a month, and cook meals four times a year for Healing House, a respite center where homeless families can safely recuperate from illness, surgery, or childbirth. We also volunteer for the Thoreau School Food Program, packing and delivering food for the families of elementary school children. If you’d like to volunteer with one of our hunger relief projects, please contact Aleeza Hoffert to get involved.

A generous TBE member is helping us reach our goal of 100% participation in the Endowment for Spiritual Leadership campaign. This anonymous $100,000 match is for pledges and donations made to the endowment between July 25 and December 31, 2023, and it includes contributions that are donated over time. If you have not yet made your pledge or donation, now is the time! This incredible matching gift means that your commitment will be doubled!

Thank you to everyone who has already committed to the campaign. We ask you to consider making an additional pledge or donation to be part of the match. 

“We donated to the Endowment for Spiritual Leadership because the success of the campaign will help TBE to be competitive in recruiting new clergy and allow us to retain beloved clergy in the future.”
—Amy Krauthamer-Maloney and Dan Maloney

Join the TBE members who have demonstrated their belief in the value of this endowment. Be part of the opportunity to double your donation as you help secure the future of Temple Beth El’s spiritual leadership.
 
Visit the Endowment for Spiritual Leadership web page to pledge or donate, or contact
Executive Director Stefanie Kushner at exec@tbemadison.org or 608-238-3123.

We are so pleased to have received a grant from a local nonprofit initiative, Solar for Good, for 94 of our solar panels and a total savings of $26,000. This incentive is in addition to the grant from the Goodman Foundation allowing us to replace an area of roofing under the solar panels and enabling the installation of over 180 panels.
 
We are looking forward to completing this installation, which will reduce our carbon footprint and our utility expenses. Look for digital displays that we hope to present in the building soon, showing our financial savings and explaining the project’s environmental impact. 

The chair of our Kesher Israel Committee shares with us these articles of interest on Israeli news, history, and society:   

“Beautiful Hasmonean fortress is being excavated for first time in Israel” (i24 News, June 12, 2023) 

“Abbas visits China as Beijing seeks to grow influence in the Middle East” (Axios, June 14, 2023) 

“Medical Clowns - No Laughing Matter: Israeli researchers find that medical clowns contribute significantly to the achievement of medical therapeutic goals” (Tel Aviv University Research News)  

“Going against all odds, Israeli club won European Beach Soccer Championship” (i24 News, June 19, 2023) 

For more, see the previous list of articles from June 2023. And check out our day-by-day updates from the TBE congregational trip to Israel in June! 

Looking to volunteer? Need a b’nai mitzvah project? Here are ways to help people in our community. 

Serving Meals at the Catholic Multicultural Center 

If you are looking for a fun, easy opportunity to help the community and spend quality time as a team, you can help serve a meal at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC). CMC provides free meals to community members on Madison's south side and people experiencing homelessness. Our volunteers set out and serve the food, join the meal, and then do the dishes and clean up. The Catholic Multicultural Center is located at 1862 Beld Street, Madison, WI 53713. 

Our TBE team is signed up to help on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. If you’re interested in engaging with other TBE members to meet this critical community need, click the sign-up link. Contact Sue Levy if you have questions.
 

Court Observers for Criminal and Eviction Court

Several Temple Beth El members act as court observers under a program run by the Nehemiah Center for Urban Development, watching and reporting on criminal and/or eviction court hearings. Observers make their own schedules and are expected to observe about four hours each month. For more information, you can contact any of those currently involved: Betsy Abramson, Lynn Silverman, or Cari DiTullio.

Middle School Literacy and Math Tutors

The Racial Justice Action Team partners with the Urban League of Greater Madison to recruit adults as literacy or math tutors in Madison’s middle schools. Volunteers complete online trainings and then select the middle school of their choice to commit to at least one hour each week working with individual students. You can begin to explore this opportunity by completing the volunteer tutor application. To learn more about it, contact Betsy Abramson at 608-332-7867, who tutored in algebra twice a week at O’Keeffe Middle School. She learned a lot of algebra herself and reports great satisfaction in helping a 7th grader catch up in this critical skill.

Setting Up Apartments for Newly Arriving Refugees

Temple Beth El works with Jewish Social Services as they help refugees from all over the world resettle in the Madison area. JSS provides case management, job help, and housing for newly arrived refugee families. TBE volunteers work to set up apartments with furniture and food, and provide tutoring and mentoring as needed. Contact Sherie Sondel.

Volunteering through Jewish Social Services 

Jewish Social Services volunteers serve as drivers, friendly visitors, event supporters, language tutors, refugee resettlement helpers, and so much more. Here are some of the volunteer roles:
•    Individual and family support: Extend and provide support by helping clients coping with a move, changes, or challenges in their life situations and by being an ally and resource person. 
•    Driver: Provide rides to clients for appointments and other destinations on an as-needed and as-available basis. This may be combined with individual and family support or designated shopper volunteering.

• Designated shopper: Provide assistance and companionship by going shopping or running errands with or for clients. 
• Spiritual care volunteers: Visit people in memory care, after specific training for such visits. 
• Office help: Assist with various tasks as needed, such as mailings, record keeping, etc. 
• Volunteer for holidays, social events, and Shabbat: Assist staff by helping participants and their families and friends enjoy and participate in meals and events. Put together holiday gift bags and/or deliver holiday treats to people in their homes and living facilities.
• Child care volunteers: Provide child care during an Afghan women’s support group on Thursdays at 10:00 am at the Northport Community Center. The children range from infants to age 5. 
• Refugee mentorship through Aljirani Madison: Aljirani Madison (from the Swahili “jirani” and Arabic “aljar,” both meaning “neighbor”) is a six-month volunteering program that pairs a companion or small group of companions with a refugee or refugee family to provide a warm welcome, companionship, and practical help. Contact Erica Serlin or Lynn Silverman to hear about their experience and learn more about the program.
• Refugee resettlement: Activities include finding and preparing homes before arrival, greeting the family at the airport, connecting them with local services, helping them secure employment and providing transportation as needed, all with assistance from JSS’s experienced staff.
• Community Action for Refugee Arrivals (CARA) program: Support JSS refugee clients by setting up apartments and engaging the broader community in ways to make Madison an even more welcoming place for refugees.

For all JSS volunteer-related questions, contact Paul Borowsky at 608-442-4083.

Volunteer Drivers for Immigration Appointments

The Dane Sanctuary Coalition provide rides for immigrants to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices in Milwaukee, Waukegan, and Chicago, as well as the United States Immigration Court in Chicago. Recently we have started to offer local rides to immigrants who need to meet with local immigration attorneys but who live in parts of Dane County without much public transportation. 

When a ride is needed, Dan Zimmerman or Dineen Grow, the co-coordinators for the volunteer driver program, send an email to the list of volunteers. Volunteer drivers only commit to a specific ride based on their availability. For longer trips, partial compensation for mileage and parking is available. If you’re interested, there is a virtual training session about the role and responsibilities of a volunteer driver, USCIS processes, etc. Contact Dan Zimmerman or call him at 608-241-1158.

Betsy Abramson was honored with the 2023 Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award at the TBE annual meeting on June 4. The award was presented by Betsy’s son Aaron Seligman, who spoke about Betsy as a role model for himself and his family. 

Betsy has served many roles at TBE, including president from 2000 to 2002. She created and co-chaired the first TBE Mitzvah Day, raised funds and developed the children’s library, chaired the Urgency of Now initiative, created and led the first Leadership Development cohorts, and served on the Senior Shabbat, Religious School, and capital campaign committees. She is currently active with the Social Action Committee and serves as co-chair of the Racial Justice Action Team, where she wrote the grant and organized placements for TBE’s participation in the Boys and Girls Club summer internship program.
 
In accepting the award, Betsy thanked the clergy and staff for fostering a culture of volunteering at TBE. She gave her reasons for volunteering as (1) family tradition, inspired by her parents, who were both volunteers for their temple in Appleton; (2) the importance of maintaining Jewish values and growing a thriving Jewish community; and (3) the opportunity to meet marvelous people. She said that she looks forward to many more years of volunteering at TBE, building a stronger Jewish community, and having fun doing it.