Women of Valour Series: Honouring Dalia Alalouf

Welcome to Rosh Chodesh Sivan on Sunday, May 17, at 9:00 am – All are welcome!
The Women of Valour Series is generously sponsored by Robert Lantos in memory of his mother Agnes Lantos z”l

Zodiac sign – Gemini (The Twins)
Sivan, the third month of the Hebrew calendar, reflects the spiritual power of the number three—seen in Moses, the third child, and the three-day preparation to receive the Torah.

This month, we celebrate Shavuot, commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai over 3,300 years ago. Each year, we renew this sacred bond, likened by our sages to a wedding between G-d and the Jewish people.

The essence of Sivan is Tiferet—harmony and truth—a balance of justice and compassion, embodied by Moses and Aaron, and reflected in Gemini, the twins. The story of Ruth, read on Shavuot, reminds us of the courage to pursue a life of deeper purpose and truth.

Woman of Valour: Tribute to Dalia Alalouf

By Lesley Simpson

I interviewed Dalia in late March 2026, before my bat mitzvah in May. At that time, Dalia said, “I still can’t believe this honour, eshet chayil for rosh chodesh. I’m the luckiest person on earth to be able to do what I love the most, teaching and helping out.”

I first met Dalia when I joined the HBT Monday night Aleph Bet class in the fall of 2025.

I joined because I have an Olympian level of Jewish curiosity. I was not planning to have a bat mitzvah; however, when I heard about the opportunity to learn cantillation, my interest was piqued, and I was terrified. “We leave nobody behind,” Dalia told us. She mentioned that once she did have a student faint, but that her system was foolproof. We had to trust the process.

Dalia created a pedagogical system for cantillation.  With each parsha, she underlined different phrases in different colours. Red, blue or green pencil indicated which trope to use. We were given a recording of the tropes. As I progressed, I earned the right to add another colour to my parsha, Leviticus 25 8-13. I kept the parsha in my purse. For an English speaker, this skill of cantillation is not easy because there is the visual pattern recognition required to recognize and pronounce the Hebrew, as well as trope melodies. To make it more daunting, the trope itself is not in the Torah parchment.

What is surprising about Dalia is that Hebrew is not her first language. She was born in Bacau, Romania, in 1948 and immigrated to Israel in 1959. Romanian was her first language. She and her family moved to Neharia, and she learned Hebrew in Kibbutz Eyn Dor. The move was difficult for her family. Her mother, who spoke many languages, worked at a restaurant to keep the family afloat financially.  Dalia was eleven years old when she landed in Israel and had no Jewish background. Being Jewish in Romania had been a liability with systemic discrimination in many quarters of society, from school to government.   Dalia remembers the hatred towards Jews she experienced within the school system, where Jews were not given the same opportunities as others.  Jews were singled out and humiliated. Subsequently, in her family, Judaism skipped a generation.

Her own parents did not observe Jewish rituals or traditions (She did not attend her first Passover Seder until she met her husband Jack when she was 19 years old, and his family’s Seder unfolded in  Ladino!) But before she met Jack and landed in Israel, a new world opened for Dalia, and she learned Jewish texts as well as the Hebrew language.

“I attended school, then high school; I worked hard to catch up with all the Bible, Talmud, and Israeli literature I had missed in my early years. I bet this is where my understanding, compassion and patience towards students—kids and adults—comes from, knowing how difficult, strange, new things are and competing with others. Then I proceeded to study in teachers’ college in Beit Berl, Kfar Saba.

Dalia lived in Israel for eight years, and on April Fool’s Day, she met Jack, her future husband. He had served in the Israeli Air Force and, upon his discharge, looked for work in Israel. There was no work. He had a sister who lived in Canada who sponsored him. He arrived on a Friday in 1967 after the Six-Day War, and on Monday, he was hired at De Havilland Aircraft Company. This August, the couple will celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary.

“Teaching was in my DNA. I was always surrounded by children and tutored many. It was my real passion.” Dalia worked at Beth Am, Beth Tikvah and Beth David synagogues, and then applied to Holy Blossom Temple, which has been her “second home” since 1971.

“What makes teaching adults different is that they have chosen to learn. They are not being forced. Each person learns differently…. Each person I come into contact with is a gem.”

What Was Broken Becomes Beautiful: The Powder-Glass Bead Story

By Wanda Haber-Kucharsky

Hello everyone. Let me introduce myself through my ghostwriter, Wanda Haber-Kucharsky, one of the Judaica & Art Shop’s Project Betzalel artists.

I am Powder Glass Bead from Ghana. You might have seen me dangling from Wanda’s ears, circling her wrist, and hugging her neck. Sometimes I am accompanied by beautiful handmade brass pieces, also from Ghana. Sometimes by special charms of Judaica.

This is my creation story.

I was born from broken things. Long before becoming a bead, I was a shard of glass, part of a bottle that had travelled far, passed from hand to hand, until one day it broke and was discarded. I lay in the red earth of Krobo Land, in Ghana, among other fragments, waiting. One day, gentle but practiced hands gathered me up. I was washed, sorted, crushed and ground patiently into fine, sandy powder. This was not an ending. This was a beginning. I felt myself change, sharp edges giving way to soft ones, full of possibility.

I was poured into a clay mould, handmade by village Artisans and shaped by generations of knowledge, passed from parent to child, from elder to apprentice. A thin cassava stalk marked my center, promising a hole and the ability to travel again, but as adornment, not waste. Then came the fire. I was placed in a kiln, fueled by wood, and watched carefully by my maker. The heat was fierce, transformative. Inside the kiln, my powder fused, grain by grain, becoming solid and strong. When the kiln cooled, I emerged whole, but not yet my full self.

Using natural pigments and finer glass powders, my maker adorned me with dots, lines, symbols, and patterns, evoking ancient protections, celebrations, continuity, and spirit. Every design carried a memory. Every colour held an intention. When I returned to the kiln for a second time, the patterns melted into my skin, where they would remain forever, a constant reminder of who I was and where I came from. Then I was polished by hand, washed in water, and strung alongside my siblings, as bands of beads. Together, we held the stories of life’s great moments: births, weddings, rites of passage, and remembrance. In Ghana, we beads are not just ornaments. We are symbols of identity, worn to honour ancestors and mark joy. We are given, inherited, and always treasured.

Long ago, before coins existed, we served as currency, travelling in pouches tied to waists and necks, carefully counted, our value understood. Along trade routes of West Africa, beads like me spoke many languages, moved from village to village, hand to hand, coast to inland. We helped seal agreements, mark alliances, and smooth negotiations. We were exchanged for gold dust, kola nuts, salt, cloth, and the essentials of life.

Then I travelled across oceans, across cultures, arriving in Toronto, Ontario, where I roomed with a lovely woman who treasured me. She sold me to Wanda, whose gentle, curious hands craft me into jewellery. As I adorn those on both sides of the ocean, I remember the earth. I remember the fire. I carry the rhythms of my homeland, the patience of hands that shaped me, and the proof that beauty can rise from the broken.

I am a Powder Glass Bead.

A note directly from Wanda:

It is worth noting that Ghana is home to a small Jewish Community, with a congregation called Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Although powder-glass beads are not used in Jewish ritual, both the beads and this community are shaped by the same place, sharing a connection through their common home. Jewellery that joins powder-glass beads and Ghanaian brass with Judaica charms symbolically brings these two ancient cultures into conversation.

You can see and purchase my jewellery made with these beads, along with fabulous creations from other Project Betzalel artists, at the wonderful Judaica & Art Shop in Holy Blossom Temple, operated by Women of Holy Blossom. Open on Sundays from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM or by appointment via [email protected].

Woman of Valour Initiative honours Bambi Katz

We invite you to attend Shacharit services on Monday, January 19, at 7:30 am, as we celebrate a long-time educator, Bambi Katz. All are welcome. Shacharit Breakfast is co-sponsored by Anne Freeman and Dena Perlmutar in honour of Women of Holy Blossom’s Woman of Valour, Bambi Katz.

Shevat is the 11th month on the Jewish calendar, counting from Nissan. The zodiac sign is Aquarius, and its symbol is the “waterbearer”. It alludes to the Biblical verse, “Water will flow from his wells,” because figuratively speaking, we each have the ability ‘to pour’ knowledge and inspire and lead others, just as a Tzadik would, to bring them closer to G/d. Shevat is a special acrostic for “we should hear good news’ it’s a month of good news, Shenishma Besurot Tovot, that we should be blessed to share good tidings.

Both Bambi and Karen Kollins have “poured” knowledge and have taught our children either at Sunday school or at Camp George. Our children have benefited and live enriched lives thanks to their teachings, leadership and guidance. As Karen stated, “Bambi shaped the Jewish education of thousands of students, leaving an indelible mark on generations of families”.

This month, we also celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shvat on the 15th of Shevat (February 2nd), which is the “New Year for Trees.” In Israel, it is the start of a new growing season, and it is marked by eating fruits, particularly those from the “Seven Kinds” with which Israel is blessed with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

The letter: Tzade צ  (resembles a tree). Interestingly, the letter of the previous month, Tevet, was ayin (ע), which literally means “an eye,” and when the ayin of Tevet is lifted up to connect with the Tzade of Shevat, the word “tree” (עֵץ) is formed. We reflect on the metaphor, “Man is a tree of the field,” as the Torah is considered a “Tree of Life,” we notice that both, Torah and Mankind, possess the same components: roots, trunk, branches and fruit.

As Shevat is the month of ‘good news’,  we hope our future will be filled with joy, blessings of abundance in our lives, of new life, goodness and kindness improving in each and every one of us. Ken Yehi Ratzon

Women of Valour Initiative: Honouring Bambi Katz

by Anne Dublin

It’s no coincidence that Bambi Katz was born the same year that Disney released its beloved animated film by the same name. Her older sister gave her the nickname “Bambi,” and it stuck!

Raised in a hard-working, secular socialist Yiddishist family, Bambi grew up surrounded by Jewish values of community, caring for others, and Yiddish culture—though synagogue life wasn’t part of her childhood. When she became a mother of three, she joined Holy Blossom Temple, for she was seeking a Jewish home where her children could grow up with a strong sense of community.

After training as a teacher, Bambi taught in public schools in Montreal and Toronto. She stepped away from the classroom to raise her children, then returned to teach general studies at Associated Hebrew Day School. In 1990, she took a leap of faith and became the Principal of Holy Blossom’s Religious School, first working under Bob Tornberg. Over the years, Bambi shaped the Jewish education of thousands of students, leaving an indelible mark on generations of families.

Since retiring in 2005, Bambi has remained deeply involved in Temple life. She’s a regular at Shabbat morning services, chairs the Bichur Cholim committee, ushers at High Holiday family services, bakes for Out of the Cold, meets with school groups visiting Temple, volunteers at Amica, and leads shiva services (along with her daughter Karen).

Beyond Temple, Bambi is a passionate advocate for Yiddish culture as a leader on UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Committee for Yiddish. By doing so, she helps to preserve and promote the language through classes, events, and educational programs. She loves to travel and is always planning her next adventure. As “Bubie Bambi,” she is a devoted grandmother to four grandchildren and a source of love and support for their families.

Those who know Bambi will tell you she’s a force to be reckoned with—energetic, warm, passionate, and endlessly generous. She’s a loyal friend, a mentor to many, and a shining example of living Jewish values every day.

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan: Honouring Margaret Hart z’l

Cheshvan is the second month of the Jewish calendar counting from Rosh Hashanah (the eighth month from Nisan). This is the only month in the Hebrew calendar that does not have any holidays or special Mitzvot.

The month of Cheshvan is the anticlimax of the previous month of Tishrei where we had so many holidays and spiritual experiences. During this month we are invited to take a ‘spiritual’ vacation. As we enter Cheshvan, we begin to experience real life, reality begins to sink in and we return to the daily and “mundane” grind. We are invited to reflect in all that we gained in the month of Tishrei and integrate it into our lives, learning how to balance the spiritual and the physical elements of our life in unison and harmony and to recharge our souls with positive energy to carry us through the heavy and cold months of winter.

How should one go about the transition from holiday to workday? “In His way,” in G‑d’s way. The eleven remaining months of the year are the majority of one’s life, and they are meant to be utilized for both function and purpose. G‑d’s intention is that we infuse the delight of “vacation” into our daily activities, bringing meaning and holiness to every aspect of our lives כן יהי רצון

Our Woman of Valour for the month of Cheshvan is Margaret Hart z’l, and honouring her memory is Ron Hart and Murray Hart both active members of HBT. We hope you will join us on Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 am for the Service & Celebration. Learn more and join us here: holyblossom.org/event/rosh-chodesh-cheshvan/

Our Mother (Margaret Hart) in 500 Words
By Ron Hart

We would like to thank HBT for bestowing the Woman of Valour Award to our mother.  There are too many stories for only 500 words, but I will try my best.

Margaret didn’t grow up at Holy Blossom, but she did meet our Dad, David at a Holy Blossom singles event. Once married, she made Temple her own.

Her HBT life largely involved four areas: Teaching in Religious School, Sisterhood, Interfaith, and Temple Singers.

My Mother taught grade one for over twenty years.  I remember watching her meticulously prepare her lessons plans. She was known for always having the most creative bulletin board displays. To this day, former students recount fond memories of being in her class. She was a mentor to many teachers and student teachers who remember her as an excellent role model for young teachers and the caring way she dealt with her students.

In 1979, as announced in the Temple Bulletin, her teaching skill and “active and ongoing involvement in and commitment to Holy Blossom Temple and its Religious School” was recognized when she was awarded the Norman Grant Memorial Scholarship. Mom was the third recipient of the award, an award which allowed her to attend the UAHC Educators Ulpan/Institute at the University of Haifa.

She returned from Israel energized and would refer to the experience as one of the most rewarding and meaningful ones of her life.

Upon her retirement as a teacher in 1982, Rabbi Stephen Garten wrote“There is no way a newcomer like myself can adequately express what you have meant to this synagogue. I can express how appreciative I am to have the opportunity to work with and learn from you. I will always remember your Purim costumes, your storytelling, and your obvious concern for children.”  

Our mother was active in HBT Sisterhood for many decades. With her best friend, Clare Denaburg z’l’, she assisted in the planning of many events over the years and participated fully in them. I would describe our mother as a doer. I think she often enjoyed the planning as much as the actual event itself.

Mom sang in the HBT non-professional choirs from Gordon Kushner’s Glee Club in the early ‘60s to Beny Maissner’s Temple Singers.  During the Beny years, she enthusiastically threw herself into choir business. There were seemingly endless phone calls with her fellow choir members. In our house we used to tease her: “There’s no business like choir business.”  

Mom was always popular with singers in her section and was good at making new, often much younger, members felt comfortable in the choir.

Our parents were both involved in three major Temple initiatives: They assisted an extended Vietnamese refugee family settle into life in Toronto, and they were original participants of HBT’s “Out of the Cold” program.  Our mother always had empathy for people less fortunate than herself.

Mom also supported Dad’s interfaith work. Together each year they conducted interfaith demonstration seders with church groups. Mom was tasked not only with preparing her excellent Charoset but more importantly reciting the Hebrew prayers and leading the singing as Dad had limited Hebrew and couldn’t carry a tune. They must have been a good team because every year they received more requests for seders.

In 1985, under the auspices of the Caring Community, she pioneered a program arranging rides to Temple for seniors. Originally a three-month pilot project, it turned into a seven-year commitment. This job involved finding Temple members who lived nearby and encouraging them to do a mitzvah by offering lifts to people who needed them. This was something my mother was good at.  It was hard to say no to her.

In 1990, she received a Caring Community Certificate. Her participation at Temple was always characterized by her passion, attention to detail, and desire to make a positive difference. These qualities can also be seen in her time spent outside of Temple.

She volunteered for years with UJA including serving as General Canvass coordinator of the Women’s Division, United Jewish Appeal, and Israel Emergency Fund Campaign Appeal. United Jewish Appeal of Toronto presented her with a Certificate of Merit for her devoted service.

Though not a gourmet chef, she prepared meals with loving attention to detail and was an excellent cook. Her recipes and advice have long been sought out in many of her social circles. Jill and Murray still make many of her recipes.

I hope these remarks will give you a sense of who our mother was and her passion for Holy Blossom Temple and the Jewish community.