Dispatches from the Adult Education Department

Sharoni Sibony

 

Every year, as we count the Omer and Shavuot approaches, I turn up Patty Griffin’s stunning tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., “Up to the Mountain.” Although Griffin was inspired by MLK’s final speech – “I’ve Been Up to the Mountaintop,” delivered on April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before he was assassinated – the lyrics always put me in mind of Moses walking out alone to receive the revelation of the Torah on our collective behalf:

 

I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to…
Sometimes I feel like
I’ve never been nothing but tired
And I’ll be walking
Till the day I expire…

 

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

 

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It’s there I will go…

 

For many years, when I worked at the Miles Nadal JCC planning the Downtown Tikkun Leil Shavuot, our team tried to create mountaintop moments – joyous learning experiences that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, when we’d arrive, in a state of fatigue and elation, onto the roof of the MNjcc to greet the sunrise. Some of you came along with us for the ride, either for part or for the whole. Our classrooms burst to the seams, teeming with 750 people learning Torah and Talmud or Jewish art and architecture, discussing contemporary social justice issues, singing, and baking cheesecake.

 

“Mountaintop moments” change something inside of us, shift our perspective and compel us to pray and work for a better world. Like Moses, we reach out to connect with something greater than ourselves and come down from the mountain, inspired and with renewed purpose.

 

This year, we offer you two chances to connect with the mountaintop as we celebrate Z’man Matan Torateinu, the Time of the Giving of our Torah. On June 4th, we welcome back to Holy Blossom Rabbi Joan Friedman, the first woman rabbi to serve a Canadian congregation (as Holy Blossom’s Assistant Rabbi from 1980-81), to reflect upon the evolution of Jewish law through the lens of Reform Responsa. And later that night, Sinai also returns to Spadina for an in-person outdoor gathering hosted by the Miles Nadal JCC and many of our community partners, at which Rabbi Splansky will be teaching.

 

I hope to see you at the mountain.

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Women of Holy Blossom at 100 years young

Women of Holy Blossom at 100 years young

By Gillian Rosenberg

 

 

The shoulders we stand on

 

On October 26, 1921, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, 60 women met in a classroom of Holy Blossom’s Bond Street Synagogue to form a sisterhood. The Chair of the meeting was 27-year-old Rebecca Brickner, wife of Holy Blossom’s first Reform rabbi and a highly accomplished woman in her own right.

 

As a first step in defining their role at Holy Blossom and within the Jewish community, they identified 4 priorities:

  1. Fostering Jewish observance in the home;
  2. Stimulating spiritual and Jewish education;
  3. Furthering religious and moral development among Jewish children and youth;
  4. Espousing religious and Jewish causes.

 

100 years of service

 

Over the 100 years that followed that meeting, Sisterhood consistently devoted both human and financial resources to these priority areas and several others, in order to strengthen Holy Blossom Temple, to develop programs for Holy Blossom and the broader Jewish community, to provide leadership and representation within and beyond our congregation, and to support other Jewish institutions. Here’s a snapshot.

 

Holy Blossom Temple

  • Financial aid to the school, including underwriting the cost of a full-time principal
  • Contributions to several building funds
  • Refurbishments and decorations
  • Purchases, including the original elevator, 2nd floor kitchen, sanctuary organ, youth chapel keyboard, and audiovisual equipment
  • Scholarships for Rabbinic students and youth
  • School and Temple libraries
  • The Biblical Garden, in memory of Ruth Katsch Fineberg
  • The adult b’nei mitzvah program
  • Departments of Worship and Religious Education
  • Holy Blossom Women’s Network
  • The Judaica and Art Shop

 

Programming

  • Institution on Human Relations
  • Institute on Judaism
  • Jewish Lifestyle
  • We Speak for Judaism
  • Annual Sisterhood Project
  • Holy Blossom Sisterhood Salon
  • Women in the Political Process
  • The Ups and Downs of Bringing Baby Home, with the Luke Sklar Mental Health Initiative
  • Anat Hoffman, Leading Voices from Israel
  • Heiress of the Wind

 

Leadership and Representation

  • Lillian Wolman (pres. 1948-1950): first woman elected to the Board of Holy Blossom
  • Marilyn Farber (pres. 1961-1963): first woman elected as an officer of Holy Blossom
  • Henrietta Chesnie (pres. 1963-1965): first female president of Holy Blossom (1974-1976)
  • Diana Goodman (pres. 1981-1983): President of Holy Blossom (1992-1994)
  • Bea Sidlofsky (pres. 1985-1987), Sheila Smolkin (pres. 1991-1993), and Gail Goodman (pres. 2005-2007): founders of Canadian Women of Reform Judaism
  • Gail Goodman: the first Canadian president of District Three, of Women of Reform Judaism
  • Pnina Margolesez”l: Canadian representative to the Northeast District of Women of Reform Judaism
  • Henrietta Chesnie, Sheila Smolkin, Lynn Feldman (pres. 2007-2009), Janice Babins (pres. 1999-2003), and Sara Charney (pres. 2003-2005): Board representatives of Women of Reform Judaism
  • Ruthe Schipper (pres. 2009-2012): Northeast District Officer of Women of Reform Judaism
  • Sara Charney: the first Canadian president of Women of Reform Judaism, a position she will hold until 2024

 

Jewish Institutions

  • Hebrew Union College and scholarship fund
  • Palestine Relief Campaign (1929)
  • House of Living Judaism (NY)
  • Beilinson Hospital (Tel Aviv)
  • Leo Baeck School (Haifa)
  • Israeli Emergency Fund
  • M’ayan Bamidbar Internation Study Center (Kibbutz Yahel)
  • New World Education Centre for Progressive Judaism (Jerusalem)
  • New initiatives by Women (Jewish and Arab women’s rights advocacy)
  • Women of Reform Judaism, including the YES fund for youth, education and special projects that promote social good

 

Continuing the legacy

 

COVID-19 did not slow us down. We took the time to reinvent as Women of Holy Blossom (WHB). We re-branded around welcoming and celebrating all who identify as female and/or are comfortable in female spaces and with female experiences. We partnered with Women’s Advocacy Group (WAG), which provides educational programs on social, cultural, and political issues of interest to women. And we crafted a new mission that honours and extends the 1921 priorities, that addresses current challenges faced by women and Jews, and that builds toward a relevant and productive future. All that to say, this is not your grandma’s sisterhood, and yet, it is.

 

On June 2, we’ll celebrate 100 years with an evening event featuring Annamie Paul—lawyer, activist, and former Green Party of Canada Leader. In a pre-recorded address, Annamie Paul will share her thoughts on Jewish women’s leadership and engage in conversation with Rabbi Yael Splansky.

 

Please join us, virtually or in person. Information and registration can be found at https://holyblossom.org/event/women-of-holy-blossom-celebrates-100-years/.

 

For more about us, follow Women of Holy Blossom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and see our mission on the Holy Blossom website at https://holyblossom.org/groups-and-programs/.

 

Yom Huledet Sameach, WHB!

 

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Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Bill S. Tepper

Founts of Inspiration

 

Serving as a rabbi at Holy Blossom implies partnering with a range of Temple constituencies, each in a different way: the Youth Education Center, Interfaith Committee, and the Women of Reform Judaism, among others.  At this moment, I am with pride able to look both back and ahead on the unfolding of projects that have brought and will continue to bring further esteem to our remarkable congregation.  Each venture is – in its own special way – a fount of inspiration, for me and all who are invested in them.

 

As a member of our Temple clergy, my portfolio includes being present for shacharit on Monday mornings in our Herman Chapel. Over the course of forty-five minutes, I participate in worship, teach Torah and – most importantly of all – connect with the many congregants who attend this service virtually or in person.  What a wonderful way to begin the day.

 

Within the Youth Education Center, I am a resource person for all grades, guide to the Confirmation class, and co-leader of our Sunday morning t’filah experience. How rewarding and uplifting are the sights and sounds of youth learning together in our beautiful Temple building!

 

Last month, the Interfaith Committee organized an excellent online Passover seder, within which sixty persons – besides myself, and representing an array of our community’s faith groups – participated.   As well, both Interfaith Committee representatives and Youth Education Center students were guests of the Imdadul Islamic Center – a valued friend of Holy Blossom – at the conclusion of Ramadan for a dynamic evening of learning, socializing, and feasting.

 

On June 2 the Women of Holy Blossom will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of our Temple Sisterhood, an event that transpired under the wise and determined guidance of Rebecca Brickner, spouse of our congregation’s first Reform spiritual leader Rabbi Barnet Brickner.  In addition to an array of speakers and visual presentations, the program will include – with my guidance – a dramatic re-creation of the first Sisterhood gathering in October of 1921 at the Temple on Bond Street. Actors, musicians, tech persons, and Women of Holy Blossom leaders have all begun this exciting work!

 

Founts of inspiration: they sustain and enrich our Temple life. How fortunate I am for the opportunity to contribute to their achievements.  And how blessed are we all for the abundance of skills, gifts, and devotion that our members bring to Holy Blossom in their entirety.  Our cup runs over! As the words of our sages remind us: Hazak, Hazak V’Nithazek.  Strong, strong…and let us continue to be strong.

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Joan Garson: Woman of Action

JOAN GARSON, HONOUREE, ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND

Joan Garson is a tireless worker for good causes. Whether it be Holy Blossom Temple, human rights in Israel, or the Toronto Jewish Community, Joan can always be found doing the hard work, engaging others and often raising the money to make things happen.

Joan is being honoured at this year’s Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) 20th Annual Women of Action luncheon. https://womenofaction.crowdchange.net/

Joan will receive the Myra York Women of Action Community Award. She and her three fellow honourees have been selected for their achievements, leadership and dedication to the Toronto community.

For forty-five years ICRF has funded top Israeli cancer researchers in leading scientific institutions across Israel. The recipients of ICRF funds, which include Nobel Prize winners have been engaged in ground-breaking research that has resulted in the development of life-saving achievements such as early diagnostic devices and new drugs for a wide range of life-threatening cancers.

Joan will join other Holy Blossom Temple members who have been awarded the Women of Action distinction. These past recipients include Rabbi Yael Splansky, Carole Herman Zucker, Lesley Binstock Offiman, Wendy Eisen, Judy Winberg, Laurie Davis, Lynn Albert z’l, Elana Waldman z’l, and Rose Wolfe z” z’l.

Mazel Tov Joan!

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Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.

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