Women of B'nai Israel

MORE THAN JUST ONEGS!

Do we put on awesome Onegs?  You bet we do!  Not because we are ‘little old ladies who bake brownies” but because we are women who do well at whatever tasks we tackle.  Who are we – the Women of B’nai Israel?  We are doctors, lawyers, business women, therapists, artists, musicians, teachers, mothers and much, much more.  We are twenty-five and thirty-three and fifty-six and eight-eight.  We haul and hammer when helping to build  the playground.  We walk for a cure for breast cancer. 

We run a successful non-profit business (Jonas Goldman Judaica Gift Shop) so that we can donate money to our building fund, special temple projects, our youth programs and more.  We are well represented on the temple board. We use brain power, creativity and people skills in numerous ways to enhance the life of our temple, our community and ourselves.

Recently after services I was talking to a woman encouraging her to join and get involved with WBI. She said that she just didn’t think it “appealed to her”.  I sensed she was thinking “little old ladies who bake” and I said to her “how do you know?  Come join us for Rosh Chodesh or a mixer and get to know us”.  The very next day I attended one of our mixers and had the opportunity to meet one of our elderly members, Paula Eldot.  At first I thought “Here is one of our members who is a little old lady who bakes.” Boy was I ever wrong! After a few minutes smoozing with her I discovered this “little old lady” is a Yale graduate and a retired history professor.  After an hour I was thinking, “boy, can we all learn a lot from her!”  A new member of WBI who was part of our conversation suddenly got inspired and said, “I think we should start an oral history project.”  And that is how things happen in WBI.

In addition to fun events such as neighborhood mixers, Women of B'nai Israel raises money to support our temple and give back to our local and international communities. Click here to learn more about these activities and services.

I am challenging you, our temple community to think of WBI in a new way and to come to us for brain power, creative ideas and competent follow through.  Not just for cookies and funding.  I am challenging you women who have not gotten involved to try us out – you might find your inspiration with us.

Shalom v'yom tov!
Deni Deutsch Marshall
WBI Past President

denimarshall@gmail.com

Some of the Women of B'nai Israel Executive Board at the WRJ Bienniel

left to right: Amy Solkovits, Carol Goodman-Gane, Deni Deutsch Marshall,
Jean Ismail, Hanah Miller, Linda Henderson & Elaine Beghausen.

Click here for the Readers' Theater presentation during the recent WBI Shabbat, and to learn about the 150 years of Sisterhood at B'nai Israel.

Here are the dates for Rosh Chodesh during the 2008 - 2009 temple year:

Dates in 2008
August 5
September 2
October 28
December 2

Dates in 2009
January 20
February 24
March 24
April 28
May 19
June 23