Jewish Museum In Philadelphia Exhibits Chair From Colleyville Shul
Perhaps no event is more indelibly marked in U.S. Jewish life this year than the Jan. 15 hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX. Two items from that day will be displayed at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker had welcomed a 44-year-old British national into the synagogue shortly before Shabbat services and offered him a cup of tea. Midway through the service, the visitor pulled out a gun and took Cytron-Walker and three others hostage. After a nearly 11-hour standoff, Cytron-Walker threw a chair at the hostage-taker, distracting him and allowing an escape.
Both the teacup and the chair are now at the Philadelphia museum, where they will be exhibited alongside a video recorded with the rabbi and the other hostages as part of a broader exhibit titled “The Future Will Follow the Past,” that will include events over the last two years within the American Jewish community, including political polarization and antisemitism.
The exhibit will open in May, coinciding with Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish Communities Worldwide Dedicate Purim Holiday To Ukrainians
A woman wears masks in the colors of the Ukrainian flag as Romania’s Jewish community celebrates Purim in the Coral Temple synagogue in Bucharest, Romania. Photo, right, Rabbi Sholom Krinsky reads the Torah at a shul in Vilnius, Lithuania. Purim, which commemorates the salvation of the Jews in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Bible’s Book of Esther, prompted prayers for peace in the Ukraine, now beset by Russian troops.
JNS photos
Scholarship Opportunities In The Arts
North Fork Reform Synagogue has announced the awarding of the second annual Linda Rie Cohen Scholarships, a $10,000 endowment from Fred Cohen to honor the memory of his late wife, who died in June 2013. The scholarships are awarded to candidates seeking pursue education in the arts and sciences, in keeping with Linda Rie Cohen’s lifelong passion for music, the arts, and education.
Applications are posted on the synagogue’s website, northforkreformsynagogue.org, and must be received by May 15, 2022.
A Centennial Celebration: The First Bat Mitzvah Held On March 18, 1922
On March 19, 1922, Mordechai Kaplan, one of the founders of Reconstructionist Judaism, led his daughter Judith through the blessings and verses of the first bat (bas) mitzvah. As Judith Kaplan famously recounted, “The moment itself was fairly uneventful: no thunder sounded, no lightning struck.”
In her book about Judith Kaplan’s story, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso says to all young women: “You are linked with people from long, long ago. Stay connected. Find joy in being Jewish.”
Just Released, Brad Kolodny Book About Jewish Settlers Of Long Island
Brad Kolodny, who talked about the early synagogues of Long Island at the shul’s Lunch and Learn program in December 2021, has just published a new book, The Jews of Long Island 1705-1918. In this book, the writer tells the stories of Jewish communities on Long Island, and how they were established and developed. His research confirms what we know about the early Jewish settlement in Greenport and the building of our shul more than 100 years ago. Peddlers, farmers and factory workers struggling to make better lives for their families moved east, out of the poverty and congestion of New York City.
Included in Brad Kolodny’s book are census records, newspaper accounts, photos, and personal family histories. More than 4,400 names of people who lived in Nassau and Suffolk counties prior to the end of WWI are listed. The writer told The Shofar that the book contains a chapter dedicated to Greenport, including the names of every Jewish resident at that time.
Russian Missile Strike Hits Holocaust Memorial Site In Kyiv, Ukraine
Russian missiles hit the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv in an air strike apparently targeting a television broadcasting tower near the center of the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed during the attack on March 1. The site is Europe’s largest mass grave for victims of the Holocaust.
According to the Babyn Yar Center’s website, Nazi forces killed between 70,000 and 100,000 people between 1941 and 1943, including almost the entire population of Kyiv. The non-governmental memorial center is developing a new Holocaust museum complex, scheduled to open in 2025-26.
Scholarship Opportunities In The Arts
North Fork Reform Synagogue has announced the awarding of the second annual Linda Rie Cohen Scholarships, a $10,000 endowment from Fred Cohen to honor the memory of his late wife, who died in June 2013. The scholarships are awarded to candidates seeking pursue education in the arts and sciences, in keeping with Linda Rie Cohen’s lifelong passion for music, the arts, and education.
Applications are posted on the synagogue’s website: northforkreformsynagogue.org, and must be received by May 15, 2022.
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