Har Zion Temple Installs Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Seth M. Haaz was installed Nov. 17 as senior rabbi of Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley.
Rabbi Adam Kligfeld, senior rabbi of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, officiated the installation and Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, spoke at the ceremony.
Haaz grew up in Elkins Park and Huntingdon Valley. After spending 20 years in Washington, D.C.; New York City; Israel; Middletown, Connecticut; and the Boston area, he returned to the area to serve as Har Zion’s senior rabbi beginning Aug. 1, 2018.
Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism Symposium Held on Nov. 18
The American Zionist Movement and the World Zionist Organization partnered with The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and Combat Anti-Semitism for a 2019 Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism Symposium on Nov. 18 in Philadelphia.
Participants included representatives from a variety of local and national Jewish organizations, including the JCRC’s Rabbi Batya Glazer and WZO Vice Chairman Yaakov Hagoel.
Attorney Donald Bean Dies at 103
Attorney Donald Bean, who served on the board of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia for 50 years, died Nov. 9 of pneumonia, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Bean practiced for law for 64 years — and was a member of the Pennsylvania Bar for 74 years.
He joined Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen in 1945. He served on its executive committee and chaired its real estate department for 12 years. Even after reaching the firm’s mandatory retirement age in 1987, he continued legal work until right before the firm disbanded in 2009.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he graduated from Lafayette College in 1937 and Harvard Law School three years later. He served in the Navy during World War II as an officer responsible for Navy gun crews, rising to the rank of lieutenant.
Bean was active in the local Jewish community. Aside from his work with JFCS — which honored him with two lifetime achievement awards — he was president of Congregation Rodeph Shalom from 1963 through 1967. He was president of the Federation of Reform Synagogues and served on the board of the Union of Reform Judaism.
He also served on the Committee of Seventy in Philadelphia, and was involved with the United Fund of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.
Holocaust Awareness Museum Honors US Reps. Boyle, Fitzpatrick
On Nov. 16, the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center honored U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle and Brian Fitzpatrick for their ongoing work on behalf of Holocaust awareness and education.
Boyle was cited for being an advocate of Holocaust education for all young people, first as a state legislator and now in Congress. HAMEC said Boyle has “been a leader and a partner in advancing HAMEC’s mission to use the lessons of the Holocaust to teach about the terrible consequences of hatred and bigotry.”
The organization lauded Fitzpatrick for making Holocaust education for all students a top legislative priority and said he is “working to make the world a better place by helping young people learn of the Holocaust and the importance of tolerance in our society.”
Artist-in-Residence Begins Nov. 22 at BZBI
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel will host Jewish educator Eliana Light on Nov. 22 and 23 in the first of four weekend visits as an artist-in-residence.
Light will lead the Center City synagogue in discovering the “why” of its prayer life, allowing it to offer deeper, more meaningful experiences to more people.
On her Nov. 22 visit, Light will lead a musical Shabbat with early childhood students, then lead evening Shabbat services were she will teach on the topic of “Ezri me’im: Where does our help come from?”
The next day, Light will help lead morning services, pilot a participatory family service and lead a teacher training for Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel’s educators.
Light is slated to return to BZBI on Jan. 24-25, March 27-28 and April 24-25.
Light has taught at the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial, the NewCAJE Jewish Education Conference, Limmud New York, Limmud UK, Songleader Boot Camp, Hava Nashira and the DeLeT MastersProgra m.
