Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester

Temple Beth El’s Rabbi Maura Linzer Receives Prestigious ‘Young Pioneer Award’

April 18, 2019 by The Inside Press

Last month Rabbi Maura Linzer of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester was one of the recipients of the Young Pioneers Award from the Jewish Education Project, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and empowering educators to create transformative Jewish experiences that help children, teens, and families thrive in today’s highly complex and challenging world.

As Associate Rabbi-Educator, Maura Linzer has dedicated her rabbinate to building positive Jewish memories in a family-centered, experiential, and inclusive environment. Under her leadership, she built a program of more than 45 teen volunteers, whose primary focus is to assist the 30 percent of students who have unique learning or emotional needs. Beth El’s Religious School has become known for its experiential learning units, Artist-in-Residence Programs, which expose the students to music, yoga, mural art, theater, pottery, and dance. The religious school has expanded greatly under her leadership with 368 students enrolled this year.

Chappaqua Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service and Dinner

November 8, 2017 by The Inside Press

The Chappaqua Interfaith Council will hold its annual Thanksgiving Service this year at Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, 220 South Bedford Road, Chappaqua at 3 p.m. A free community dinner will follow the service. Everyone is welcome. Prayers, readings, music and songs will be performed by members of all the participating faith communities and some guests. This year the focus of the service will be the celebration of diversity and differences in our community.

The Rev. Canon Alan Dennis of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Episcopal will be the featured speaker. Rev. Dennis, who was born in South Africa, came to Chappaqua last year after a long career in parishes as far flung as Capetown, where he experienced the problems of apartheid, and Toronto and as close as New York City and Pelham.

This is the twelfth year the Chappaqua Interfaith Council has offered a meal following the service. Over 300 guests are expected to attend. Once again the Kittle House is graciously providing the turkey, mashed potatoes and sides for the dinner. Other village businesses will be contributing as well. Community members will also contribute favorite side dishes and desserts.

This year the Council will gratefully accept tax-deductible monetary donations and non-perishable food items for the Northern Westchester Community Center, which provides food, clothing and service to the needy in the area.

The Chappaqua Interfaith Council includes representatives, both lay and clergy, from the following faith communities: Baha’is of New Castle; Chappaqua Friends Meeting; The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Episcopal; First Congregational Church; Lutheran Church of our Redeemer; St. John and St. Mary’s Catholic Church; Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester and the Upper Westchester Muslim Society

For further information, please contact Candie Downing at 914 419-7216 or candiedow9@gmail.com

Abigail Pogrebin to Speak at Temple Beth El

August 25, 2017 by The Inside Press

On Saturday, September 16 at 5 p.m. at Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, Abigail Pogrebin will be the featured speaker for the Selichot service that precedes the Jewish High Holidays. Ms. Pogrebin is the author of the new book, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew, which came out in March 2017 and was featured on the Today Show and reviewed enthusiastically by David Gregory in the New York Times. She will ‘unpack Selichot’–one of the least understood, but potentially most-heart-opening holidays, and speak about her new book. Books will be available for sale following the lecture.

Ms. Pogrebin also wrote Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk about Being Jewish for which she interviewed 62 famous Jews about their religious identity, One and the Same, about the realities of life as a twin, and Showstopper about her teenage adventure in a Broadway flop by Stephen Sondheim: “Merrily We Roll Along.” Formerly a producer for Charlie Rose at PBS and Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes, she has written for Newsweek, New York Magazine, The Forward, Tablet, and The Daily Beast. She moderates her own interview series at The JCC in Manhattan and is the current President of Central Synagogue in New York.

For more information, visit https://bethelnw.org/node/3848 or call 914-238-3928

On “Giving Back to a Jewish Population in Cuba”

March 6, 2016 by The Inside Press

TBE Congregants delivered supplies to a Temple Beth Shalom in Havana

By Matt Smith

There is an old Hebrew saying, which stems from an early 20th century Zionist folksong: “Livnot uI’hebanot.” Translated into English, this saying means, “To build and to be built by it.” You may also know this saying: “It’s better to give than it is to receive.” However you know the adage, we’re sure you can agree it’s one to live by. And it’s certainly one Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester kept in mind this past winter when he sojourned to Cuba with a group of congregants for a project in community outreach.

“I think that for every generation of American Jews, there has always been an inspirational challenge to rise up,” explains the Rabbi. “[And as] I believe the theory of [Jewish American historian] Jonathan Sarna points out, my generation of American Jews is at a loss because of a lack of a challenge that way. We don’t have some all-encompassing, inspirational task to which we can dedicate ourselves.”

Given this fact, the Rabbi took it upon himself to create one for the people of his congregation. He turned his attention toward the tumultuous relationship between the United States and Cuba, which he saw as an opportunity to heal wounds–“an amazing goal to center the congregation around”–and a way to “fulfill that need” for a present-day, inspirational challenge by giving back to the Jewish population in Cuba.

And so, the trip was constructed under the auspices of “bringing supplies and donations to the needy populations, especially the Jewish populations, in Cuba.” The group of congregants, which totaled around 25 people of various ages, brought in over 2,000 pounds of supplies–medical, hygienic, dental, and school/office–and donated an additional $2,000 to various Jewish communities throughout the country.

While there’s no doubt he enjoyed his time in Cuba (the group took part in walking tours, scuba diving, music and food), the Rabbi admits that, during the trip, his eyes were opened to how much the country is still struggling culturally and economically– and found that especially humbling when he found himself without his American luxuries.

“It’s hard to lead a synagogue trip when you can’t use a credit card or cell phones,” the Rabbi acknowledges. “And that’s [the case because] the bureaucracy and the limited markets available make things very difficult at times.” Additionally, he notes that “not only did they not have cell phones, but even the nice hotels don’t have voicemail [systems available] in the rooms. So, if you wanted to contact someone, you went downstairs and you had someone write down a note and go up and slip it under the person’s door. It felt like we were stuck in the Stone Age from a communication standpoint.”

Rabbi Jaffe was also particularly struck to see the lack of resources firsthand–and the impact the loss had on the town’s residents. “We were walking around the very small town of Trinidad,” the Rabbi explains, “and [we had] a college student [who] was drinking out of his Gatorade bottle… and a man approached him and asked if he could have the [Gatorade] bottle because he needed something to feed his child milk. They don’t have baby bottles. It makes you realize how privileged we are.”

Considering this overall American privilege, and the relationship Cuba has not only with America in general, but specifically, the Jewish people, Rabbi Jaffe comments that he felt the trip “was an amazing experience in Jewish peoplehood.”

“We share a common bond, a common history, a common ancestry, and that wherever you go in the world, you can always find a Jewish population and [know] that you’ll be treated as an insider rather than an outsider. And that it’s this beautiful global aspect of Judaism, in that you have to leave your community and your shell in order to experience that.”

Observing how his own group of congregants experienced the trip was a source of joy too. “[We had people] from nine years [old] through their mid-70s [and] the group just beautifully gelled. It was really nice to see.” Livnot uI’hebanot. “And,” says the Rabbi, with a smile, “we are all closer for it in the end.”