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.

*       *      *

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.

*       *      *

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.

Celebrating 50 Years of Presidential History

By President Emily Jennewein

Rabbi Berk and Ron Simon watch
Joan Jacobs light Shabbat candles.

It was an enormous thrill to welcome 17 of Beth Israel’s 18 living past presidents and their families for Shabbat last month as part of the 150th anniversary celebration.

Two presidents were from the 1960s: Bob Epsten in 1962, at age 37, was the youngest person to be elected president. Bob grew up hearing stories about his grandfather, who was Beth Israel’s sixth president. Seymour Rabin presided over the merger of Beth Israel with Temple Solel at a time when Beth Israel had a building but no rabbi, and Temple Solel had a rabbi but no building. We missed seeing Gerald Kobernick, during whose presidency the temple outgrew the sanctuary for High Holy Days and moved services to the Civic Theatre.

Seymour Rabin and family

Three presidents were from the 1970s: Fred Weitzen founded the Century Club, our enhanced-dues program that enables Beth Israel to welcome everyone who wants to be a member regardless of the their ability to pay full dues; Joan Jacobs was Beth Israel’s first woman president; and Jim Milch helped buy back our original synagogue and donate it to the City of San Diego so it could be restored and preserved.

The Berton family

Three presidents from the 1980s included: Bob Berton, who chaired the land acquisition committee that found our current location; Si Coleman, who cultivated the first major gift to Beth Israel’s endowment; and Pat Perlman, who was president when the congregation purchased land in Rancho Santa Fe for a satellite site, though that land was later sold.

Betty Byrnes, Emily Jennewein,
Rabbi Michael Satz

Presidents of the 1990s included: Betty Byrnes, who introduced Beth Israel’s Minyan service; Mary Ann Scher, who presided over the departure of Rabbis Sternfield and Coskey and recruited Rabbi Jonathan Stein; Jerry Rosen, who helped raise the funds and design our magnificent campus; and Allan Ziman, who as president oversaw construction of our campus. As the chairs of this special evening to honor our past presidents, Jerry and Allan led a comedic review of the congregation’s history.

Jerry & Linda Goldberg

The five most recent Past Presidents are the ones whose leadership I have experienced and whose excellent examples I am trying to emulate: Jerry Goldberg presided over opening of our magnificent campus; Jeff Silberman oversaw a period of financial stability; and Barbara Haworth led the congregation through a period of change and guided us to Shalom Bayit, peace in the house, which we enjoy to this day.  Amy Corton led the successful transition of Rabbi Michael Berk and Executive Director Lesley Mills; and Immediate Past President Ron Simon presided over the renewal of Rabbi Berk’s contract and developed two significant gifts to initiate our endowment campaign.



The evening’s speaker, Rabbi Lennard Thal, gave a sermon about effective lay leadership and effectuating change in the synagogue.

What an Honor it Was to Dine with Our Double Chai Members!

By President Emily Jennewein

 Opening the 150th anniversary Speakers Series on November 11, Beth Israel honored its Double Chai members -- those who have been members for 36 or more years -- with a beautiful dinner and evening featuring Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust scholar, who addressed the congregation during services.

It is so gratifying to realize that there are a large number of Beth Israel members who joined long ago and have found an embracing community at Beth Israel as well as found meaning and purpose in our many programs and services. These many longtime members have remained loyal to the mission and goals of our congregation over many years. So this month I'd like to use this opportunity to tell a few stories about some - but not all - of the Beth Israel members who have embraced our community for the longest amounts of time, more than 50 years.

We believe Harry Tennebaum is the member with the longest tenure at Beth Israel. Harry was born into the congregation in 1928, though his family joined in 1919, more than 90 years ago. During WWII, Harry -- at the tender age of 13 and just one year past Confirmation -- was pressed into service to teach Sunday school.  He recalls that one Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, war broke out 10 am Pacific time. Since San Diego was considered a war zone, everyone was ordered off street and went home to turn on their radios.

Lifelong member Fred Weitzen joined Beth Israel in 1950. After serving on the board for ten years, Fred was elected president in 1974.  But 1974 started with a funding shortfall.  Though the temple raised standard dues to $400, Weitzen recalls, it became impossible to pay the rabbi, a situation he found completely unacceptable. So he proposed to a group of businessmen that they contribute at least $1,000 a year.  They accepted, except for a few who offered to pay $2,000 a year. In so doing, Weitzen established the Century Club, which to this day honors members who voluntarily pay above-standard dues. The Century Club allows Beth Israel to offer membership to everyone regardless of the ability to pay full membership dues. 

Matthew Strauss grew up in the temple -- his mother was Rabbi Moise Bergman’s secretary -- and Matt was confirmed in the same class as Shearn Platt. Matt met his wife Iris Strauss at a Temple Youth League party after she arrived from Chicago at age 16. Iris and Matt raised their three children at Beth Israel, where each was confirmed and married, and Iris later chaired the Temple Follies, known to all as the greatest of all mixers. 

Rabbi Morton Cohn attended Shearn and Linda Platt’s engagement party, and the Platt children were bar mitzvahed and confirmed at Beth Israel. Linda later co-founded the Stand With Israel Committee with Phyllis Cohn. 

Anabel and Ted Mintz joined in 1958 although Anabel’s mother had been a member as a child. Her mother, who owned a millinery shop at 5^th & C Streets, downtown, joined all three San Diego temples for good will – for just $25 a year at each. Anabel and Ted met at dinner dance in Temple Youth League when they were 16 and 18, and were married three years later by Rabbi Cohn. Ted built the education building at Third & Laurel and chaired the construction and development committee for our current magnificent synagogue. 

Mel Goldzband joined in 1961 and worked with Rabbi Melvin Weinman to move High Holy Day services to the Civic Theatre in 1965 when we outgrew our own sanctuary. Mel designed the set for the services, and then for 35 years managed the lighting and updated the set until he retired from this volunteer endeavor in 2000. 

Chairs of the Double Chai Member evening Arthur and Sandy Levinson were both confirmed at Beth Israel, eight years apart. The Levinsons were married at Beth Israel and raised their two children, who have in turn raised their children, in our Congregation. Next month their granddaughter, Shanna, will be a Beth Israel bride. And a year and a half from now their grandson, David, will be ordained as a Rabbi. 

I wish I had move room to share more stories about our longstanding members. Among the many present at the dinner to celebrate more than 50 years of membership were Joan and Marvin Jacobs, Elene and Herb Solomon, Ann and Ben Weinbaum, Esther and Dick Rosenberg, and Bob Berton.

1,000 Protesters Peacefully Shared Civic Center Plaza With Beth Israel

By Emily Jennewein, President

Beth Israel’s peaceful worship on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur at the Civic Theatre was a heartwarming example of Jewish values of respect and understanding in action. Just an hour and a half before we opened the doors to our worshipers on the holiest day of the year, the Civic Center Plaza was packed -- shoulder-to-shoulder -- with more than 1,000 protesters of all ages.

But those protesters -- from Occupy San Diego, an offshoot of the national Occupy Wall Street movement -- had already made plans to move away out of respect for Beth Israel’s worship there.

So the Beth Israel community gathered to worship at the Civic Theater on Friday evening and Saturday morning, October 7 and 8, while over a thousand protesters camped out just blocks away.

In keeping his promise to tell the congregation from the pulpit on Kol Nidre of the protest organizers’ thoughtfulness, Rabbi Michael Berk said, “There was nothing but utter respect and honor accorded to us, Judaism, and Yom Kippur.”

You may wonder, what did Beth Israel do when we learned of the protest? I’m so proud of the way in which our congregation communicated directly and with great respect with protest organizers.

Rabbi Berk and Executive Director Lesley Mills called and met with the leaders of Occupy San Diego to ask for their help in ensuring our peaceful worship on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur. Cory Briggs, a congregant with close ties to the organizers, reached out to his contacts and carried a compelling letter from Rabbi Berk that asked that we be allowed to pursue our worship at the Civic Theater as we have since 1965.

As soon as the protest organizers realized that Beth Israel’s historic worship at the Civic Theatre might be jeopardized, they wanted to help Beth Israel. Protest organizers not only complied, but they insisted on moving their many hundreds of protesters. They even apologized to us for the inconvenience!

In the end, Occupy San Diego marched to the Civic Center Plaza on Friday afternoon, then at 5:00 p.m. left the plaza for Children’s Park, where they camped until after our Yom Kippur services were concluded.

“I am grateful that at great inconvenience for their planning they have moved their demonstration away from our praying place while we are here,” Rabbi Berk told the congregation. “Agree or not with them, the people we met who are their leaders are sweet, young, idealistic, gentle people, and I thank them for allowing us to proceed with our observance of Yom Kippur in the quiet, reflective way that our day of atonement brings to us.

“We can all be thankful that in America, on Judaism’s holiest day, civility and tolerance – values that originated with Judaism – ensured that Beth Israel could worship in peace in downtown San Diego,” our rabbi concluded.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Excerpts from Rosh Hashanah by President Emily Jennewein

Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a new year. And this is indeed a momentous new year for our congregation. It is the 150th time that this great congregation has convened to worship together for the High Holy Days. 

As we celebrate, it’s important to reflect on how Beth Israel reached this sesquicentennial. How did a group of Jewish pioneers on the wild, remote coast of California create a community so successful that it has endured 150 years and seems still to get stronger every year? 

I am convinced it was and is because of this congregation’s commitment to building community. Our founders sought to establish Jewish connection then, and we continue on that same quest now. We create a community where people find ways to connect to Judaism and to one another. We create a community whose core values focus on making the world a better place. 

A Vision for Our Future 

More than a year ago, with our milestone anniversary in mind, your temple leadership convened a creative partnership with clergy and staff to discuss the future of Beth Israel and to establish a vision for the first five years of our next 150. We identified scores of priorities, goals and dreams, and from those certain themes and areas of synagogue life emerged as the central focus: 

• In the area of youth, our vision is to make Beth Israel a second home to our future – the congregation’s youth – by providing social, educational, musical, cultural and spiritual connections that make Beth Israel central to the lives of San Diego’s young Jews.
• In the area of community, our vision is to offer multiple points of connection and engage our members at every stage of their lives. In a city like San Diego, where Jews are spread out geographically, we see a key role for the synagogue to be a convener and connector. Our vision is, metaphorically, to replace the walls of our synagogue with hundreds of open doors so that all can find their own way in, and be welcomed and embraced by Chavurot and with meaningful volunteer opportunities. 
  
  And we seek to build community by strengthening our pastoral services – offering compassion, support and acts of loving kindness. As a caring community, we hope to unleash the energy of our members who are eager to be a friend, a neighbor, a fellow Jew to those in need. 

• In the area of lifelong learning, our vision is to inspire members to keep learning about Judaism at every stage of their lives by creating innovative, exciting and compelling opportunities in Jewish education, music and arts, and which bring us closer to Torah, Israel, and our roots as a people. 

Bringing this vision to fruition will take time. But the vision will provide a roadmap to guide us as we take the first steps into the next 150 years. 

And how shall we achieve this vision, and ensure Beth Israel remains strong in the years to come? 

We must begin now to significantly enhance our financial foundation. We’ll need a more powerful way to assure our long-term financial viability: a new financial tool that will propel us into our next 150 years. That tool is a dramatic increase in the size of our endowment. 

Synagogues throughout the United States, including our own, are challenged to sustain comprehensive, high-quality programming and services with revenue derived primarily from membership dues. We think the innovative solution to this challenge – the strategy employed by major universities – is to build up our endowment. 

By creating a sizable endowment, we will fundamentally shift the financial model for Beth Israel to one that can help protect against economic uncertainty, and will allow us to continue to serve San Diego’s Reform Jewish community for the next 150 years and beyond. 

On this 150th anniversary of the founding of Beth Israel, we have a unique opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants – those who had the vision and the courage to found and build our synagogue in 1861. Just as these visionaries imagined a thriving Jewish community in San Diego, we must consider what our efforts today can do to secure our children and grandchildren’s sense of Jewish identity and the continuity of Judaism itself. 

Let us now start building the next 150 years together. Future generations of San Diego Jews are depending on us.