President’s Message
by Rebecca A. Gold
Books! Being bookish, bookworms, having your head in a book. These are all terms that define my family – both the family I was born into and the family I have created with my husband, Mitchell, and our boys, Jamie and Jonathan. I grew up with parents and a brother who, literally (no pun intended), read almost all the time. My father could, and my brother can, out-pace me at about five books to one. I was in awe of this ability… and a bit jealous. They spent almost every free minute reading. What rubbed off on me more than the fact that we were expected to be well read, was the respect one should have for books. “Important” books were treasured in the Brody household. There were special shelves for our Tanakh, the Midrash, the Talmud and our siddurim. There was the requisite blue and white volume of Haftorot we received for our b’nei mitzvah, and dozens of books on Jewish themes, past and present, along with wonderful books about Israel. My parents made sure we loved Israel as much as they did… and we do!
I just returned from a Women’s Philanthropy Mission to Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest with a group of 30 women. Before we left, it came to our attention that the only synagogue of Bratislava needed 70 new siddurim. As a group, we arranged to buy these prayer books as a gift. It was a no-brainer and everyone was delighted to contribute. For me, nothing is more wonderful than receiving a treasured book from someone, so this really resonated with me. It added a very meaningful element to our connection with the Jews we met there. Our visit with Bratislava’s Rabbi Baruch Myers (son of long-time Women’s Philanthropy member Maxine Myers from our own Greater MetroWest community) and his wife, Chana, shed light on the Jewish renewal the town is experiencing. Rabbi Myers and Chana are an extraordinary team, although the rabbi credits Chana with being the force that pushed him and the community forward, securing funding for their new building and facilitating learning programs, especially for their youth population. Interestingly, while we Americans may experience Judaism in our homes but may not always come together as a community, they have the opposite challenge. They are drawing the Jewish community together, but there is little Jewish activity within the home – the result of the Holocaust and the Communism of the past. However, they are reigniting Judaism through the children, and what they are doing in Bratislava is just short of miraculous.
Our experience reminded me that the work our Jewish Federation does in Eastern Europe through our overseas partner, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), is not just about relief and rescue. So much of what is needed there is Jewish renewal. As you know, for decades since WWII, Jews were not allowed to pray and express themselves freely. Parents and grandparents are still afraid to identify themselves and their children as Jews. The dollars we raise, though, provide for meaningful Jewish experiences – Jewish day and overnight camps, programs for teens, and social experiences that connect the Jewish community. There is excellent evidence that there is success in reigniting the almost extinguished Jewish flame within the souls of our people in this part of the world. This gave me hope and made me very proud of the work our Federation does to make this possible.
Books help connect us to one another and expand our horizons. As is the case with every Mission, we were provided with a suggested reading list prior to our travels so that we could gain insight into the culture and environment of Jewish Vienna and Budapest of the past. The list included books such as Ann Marie O’Connor’s The Lady in Gold, which told the true story of Gustav Klimt’s 1907 portrait of the Viennese Jewish Socialite, Adele Bloch-Bauer, and the semi-autobiographical novel Fatelessness, by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kinszki, which told the story of a 14-year-old boy who was plucked from his home in Budapest and placed on a train to Auschwitz. While it’s devastating to recount tragic stories of European Jews, it made me proud that we as a Federation stay connected, feel responsible for one another, and take care of Jews wherever they are.
As I begin my second year as your president, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you give and all you do. The fact that you choose to do this through Women’s Philanthropy of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest is not taken for granted, and I look forward to many opportunities to change other’s lives, as well as our own, in big and small ways. Maybe we’ll even exchange a book or two!