Our Classical Reform Service at Third & Laurel

by Emily Jennewein, President

This was the introduction to our second stop on the Three Temple Tour, a Classical Reform service held at Third & Laurel on Friday, January 27. 

Our host, Ohr Shalom Synagogue, has lovingly restored this temple that was originally built in 1926 as the second home of Congregation Beth Israel. In fact, Ohr Shalom’s President, Al Shelden, who is here this evening, led the group that won a Preservation Award from the Save Our Heritage Organization last May for the restoration of this sacred place.  For 75 years – until 2001 – this historic structure was Beth Israel’s sacred dwelling, and the center of Jewish life in San Diego.

Tonight we will welcome back some very special guests who will be sitting on the bimah with Rabbi Michael Berk, Rabbi Arlene Bernstein and Rabbi Michael Satz.

We are thrilled to welcome Cantor Sheldon Merel. For 11 years, Cantor Merel’s beautiful tenor voice graced this sanctuary. He was a pioneer who expanded the role of Cantors in the Reform Movement. At his retirement in 1991, Cantor Merel became Cantor Emeritus of Beth Israel, but his contributions to our High Holy Days services have continued to this day and well into his retirement.



I am also pleased to welcome back Marline Gendelman, who directed the Bill & Sid Rubin Preschool for 20 years.  When Marline re-opened the preschool in 1977 she had 11 youngsters enrolled, and Marline herself acted as bookkeeper, secretary, snack provider, and sometime-custodian.  When Marline retired, she had built the preschool to full capacity with 65 children and a staff of eight. 

Also sitting on the bimah this evening will be Director of Education Emerita – Helene Schlafman, another wonderfully innovative force in our congregation.  Eemah – as everyone calls her – created our Madrichim Leadership Program more than 40 years ago and it became a model nationwide.  Over the years, hundreds of Beth Israel teens have been trained to assist in our religious school and camps. Eemah was our first woman director of education, a position she held for 20 years.  She was instrumental in creating a number of summer camps for Beth Israel, and the Beth Israel Day School.

For making this evening a seamless walk down memory lane, I’d like to thank the ALEINU Committee and its chair Jerry Sampson, our Facilities Coordinator Lynn Sampson, Maintenance Director Nick Reilly, and our Program Director with distinction for 27 years, Bonnie Graff. We are also grateful to Organist Bob McLeod, Choirmaster Nancy Jones Johnson, Beth Israel's Shabbat and Festival Choir and volunteer singers who have joined us to make music for many years.  

And we’ll also welcome to the bimah our host, Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom, to whom we are most grateful for allowing us to journey back to our former home tonight, to worship here, and to re-live so many glorious memories of Congregation Beth Israel.

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You’re holding in your hand a service from the old Union Prayer Book, first published in 1894, newly revised in the 1940s, and used throughout the Reform Movement until 1976 when the Gates of Prayer was introduced.  Just a few congregations today still follow the liturgy that we’ll use for tonight’s service.

Tonight’s service is meant to be authentic, to take us back in time. So please be prepared for the unexpected and don’t be on auto-pilot. Our Reform Movement has evolved over time. But tonight we’ll venture back and we’ll hear the dignified, formal oratory in use in the 1940s, especially the male-oriented language of that day.

The music of a Classical Reform service – conducted without benefit of a Cantor, by the way – featured majestic Choral music, powerful and dignified congregational hymns, organ accompaniment, and musical responses to liturgy read by the Rabbi and Congregation. Though the hymns would have been published in a separate Union Hymnal, you’ll find some of the music for this evening in the back of our special Prayer Book.

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Now, let us be transported back to the 1940s to worship in the Classical Reform style – using the liturgy and music of the Reform movement – during the period in which Beth Israel convened at Third and Laurel.

Honoring Beth Israel's Many Community Leaders

We are thrilled to honor 75 leaders tonight.
Everyone in this sanctuary thanks you for your service.

These remarks were delivered by Emily Jennewein, president, at the Shabbat to honor Beth Israel members who have served as presidents and executive directors of organizations in the greater Jewish community.

Congregation Beth Israel has reached our 150th anniversary in large part because our leaders have dedicated themselves to building a strong, broad-based, and resilient Jewish community in San Diego. And then to guiding it as it grew and prospered. Along the way, our leaders encountered economic adversity and many challenges, but found the inspiration, fortitude and creativity to evolve, and the vision to persevere and thrive. 

Rabbi David Wolpe spoke eloquently
to the gathering. And he engaged our
religious school students in conversations
about God earlier in the afternoon.

In fact, since our founding in 1861 by pioneer Jews in the dusty backwater that was early San Diego, Beth Israel has been the incubator for Jewish leadership in our city. Our synagogue was not just the first, but the only Jewish institution in San Diego for nearly 50 years. Today we’re honored to share the role with about 40 synagogues of all denominations. And with a multitude of Jewish social service agencies, schools, private Foundations, advocacy and Israel support groups that serve both the Jewish and general communities.

Betty Byrnes, center, celebrated her 78th
birthday along with daughter Laura Byrnes
and Laura's fiance, Michael.  

Many of those we’re honoring tonight started their leadership careers at Beth Israel – in youth groups, on our committees and our Board – and then spread out to give back to meaningful causes in the larger community. A few years ago, when I had the privilege to work at the Jewish Community Foundation, I gained appreciation for the depth of commitment on the part of so many San Diego Jewish leaders to making the world a better place.

Marcie Merel, left, was honored for her
service as past president of
Jewish Family Service.

Tonight Beth Israel is honoring our own members who have served as presidents and executive directors of San Diego Jewish organizations.  We are thrilled to honor about 75 leaders tonight. Everyone in this sanctuary thanks you for your service. Please join me in another round of applause.

I’d like to thank Andie Oster for chairing this beautiful evening, and present you with this gift from Beth Israel in appreciation of your guidance of this special celebration of our 150th anniversary.  Andie most recently completed her term as Chair of Federation, and this year was honored with the Anne Ratner Award for Extraordinary Leadership.

150th Anniversary Chari Mary Ann Scher,
Kate Kassar, 150th Project Coordinator Terri Bignell

Beth Israel’s entire 150th anniversary year is chaired by one of our honorees, Mary Ann Scher. And working closely with Mary Ann is another of our community’s leaders whom we’re honoring tonight, Terri Bignell.

I encourage all of you to please join us for the fascinating lineup we have planned for the next four events in our Speakers Series, all on Shabbat evenings – dates and speakers are listed in tonight’s program.

Hillel Executive Director Michael Rabkin,
former JFS President Ron Zollman,
Zachary Zollman, Susan Shmalo and
Gene Hamilton Carswell.

And I hope everyone here – whether or not you’re a member of Beth Israel -- will feel welcome to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in our Torah Project. We will be working through June of this year to fulfill the mitzvah of scribing a new Torah. Dedications are available ranging from a single letter, to a parasha, to naming the entire Torah.

In closing, I hope you’ll join us and our community leaders at the dessert reception that awaits us next door in the David & Dorothea Garfield Social Hall.

Thank you for your leadership! 

Jewish Community Foundation CEO Marjory Kaplan,
Past President Amy Corton and T.E.A.M founder JJ Surbeck

Steve and Ellen Fox, Past President of JFS Steve Levine, Michael and Lynn Maskin

Cathy Weil, JFS CEO Michael Hopkins, John Weil

Rabbi Michael Satz, Liz Levine, Gary Hirschfeld, Andrew Resnick

Rabbi Janice Elster, President Emily Jennewein

Executive Director Lesley Mills,
Communications Director Karen Shein,
Membership Coordinator Judi Schwartz

Celebrating Shalom Hunan Chanukah

By President Emily Jennewein



For many liberal Jews, the Christmas holidays are synonymous with Chinese food.  While our Christian friends celebrate their holidays, we Jews often gather for our own feasts, and more often than not, the meal is Chinese.

True to form, several hundred Beth Israel members and friends celebrated Beth Israel’s festive tradition of Shalom Hunan Chanukah again this year with a Shabbat service followed by Chinese dinner and sufganyot.  The service featured the lighting of Beth Israel’s giant chanukia, created several years ago by our own master woodworker, Louis Vener.  And our Shabbat and Festival Choir, Youth and Teen Choir and Chai Band performed lively and animated Chanukah songs.

The happiness and sense of community was palpable throughout the evening as congregants filled the beautifully decorated David & Dorothea Garfield Social Hall. Beth Israel’s hard-working, cheerful staff made certain there was a bounty of delicious food and that the evening flowed seamlessly. It warmed my heart that our staff, many of whom are not Jewish, seemed to enjoy the Chanukah celebration as much as anyone!

Professor Joellyn Zollman

But why the connection between American Jews and Chinese food? Our member, Professor Joellen Zollman told congregants how this relationship began and why it continues. Zollman explained that Jewish affinity for Chinese food was influenced by the proximity of Chinese communities on the lower east side of New York at the turn of the 20th century, and the idea that Chinese is "safe treyf."

Sociologists developed the term safe treyf to describe the idea that Chinese food was appealing to Jewish immigrants, Zollman explained, because it uses virtually no dairy, therefore avoiding the milk and meat combination that was repulsive to many American Jews who came from a kosher background, even if they were no longer maintaining the dietary laws themselves. Further, most treyf ingredients, especially pork, were so finally minced as to be unrecognizable. And, Chinese food uses ingredients familiar to Jews -- chicken, garlic, tea, and overcooked vegetables.

A joyful evening like this one exemplifies our congregation’s commitment to being an inclusive community of people who come together under the name of Beth Israel to pursue our shared interests and goals. The warmth and inclusiveness of our community are qualities that make Beth Israel the extraordinary place that it is.

So whether you enjoyed our Chinese Chanukah or plan to join us next year, I encourage you to join our Beth Israel community in February for any or all of the many wonderful programs that will continue our 150th anniversary celebration:

• On Fri., Feb. 10, Rabbi David Saperstein, who heads the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C., will speak here
• On Wed., Feb. 15, Dr. Jess Mandel and a panel of our members who are research scientists and health care providers at UCSD School of Medicine, UCSD Moores Cancer Center and the Salk Institute will present at Forum 150
• On Wed., Feb. 22, Torah scribe Julie Seltzer will teach the joy of baking challah, creating edible art 
• On Fri., Feb. 25, Rabbi/Cantor Arlene Bernstein will lead us in celebrating 150 show-stopping years from Broadway to Beth Israel

Members of the Beth Israel community are invited to contact President Emily Jennewein by writing to board@cbisd.org.