Keter Torah Awardees

Revered – and, I may add, beloved – rabbis, family, and friends, Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach. I am truly honored and touched to be standing here today and sharing this award with Liora. Liora, you and I never even met before today, but from everything I’ve heard, I think you and I could become fast friends. We share a love for davening and for meaningful communal engagement, which gives us a lot in common. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for KJ.

When Bob and I married almost 38 years ago, our decision to move to this community and join KJ was a natural one. My uncle Martin Rochlin, A”H, and - לדבת הנתיא תואירבב םיבוט םייחל - my beloved aunt Evelyn, had been members of KJ for 20 years. From the time I was 10 years old, spending occasional Shabbatot with my aunt and uncle and celebrating the birth and Brit Milah of their sons, Joshua and Kenny, and many other smachot, I became acquainted with their friends Haskel and Audrey Lookstein and the synagogue they attended. I remember sitting at the Rochlins’ lunch table one Shabbat when Rabbi Lookstein and Audrey were there. Rabbi Lookstein asked me whether I knew any zmirot. I proceeded to sing one - I believe it was לארשיל הז םוי. It was a tune he wasn’t familiar with, and he asked me to teach it to him! The fact that I retain that memory is an indication of the impression Rabbi Lookstein made on me as a young girl.

Fast forward about 20 years, when we moved into this community. Thanks to Martin and Evelyn’s renowned hospitality, and to Kenny's and Josh’s warmth and popularity, it didn’t take long for us to feel completely at home in KJ. Plus, having been a student in Rabbi Lookstein’s Tehillim class at the Teacher’s Institute of Stern College, I was excited at the prospect of continuing to learn from him.

In 1990, Bob and I joined KJ and enrolled our daughter in Nursery A at Ramaz. As the years went by, with both Amanda and Jason attending Ramaz and Bob and I davening at KJ, we came to appreciate on a deeper level the truly outstanding features of this synagogue and this community. Decorum and timely arrival at services were valued. Precision in Torah reading and conducting the services was a priority. High standards were the norm. At the same time, services were inspiring, and congregants with different levels of observance were welcomed and respected. A wide variety of Torah classes was being offered, and we enjoyed the many shiurim we attended. KJ was a very comfortable home for us.

The beautiful KJ Bulletin and Rabbi Steinmetz’s moving remarks describe my years of service to the shul and the community in various capacities. I’d like to connect the motivation for communal activism and volunteerism to a lesson that I believe Megillat Rut is trying to teach. The idea I will share is derived both from

presentation by Surie Sugarman

Dr. Yael Zeigler’s magnificent book and from a recent conversation I had with my dear friend, fellow student and role model, Tova Bulow.

I think we can all agree that Chapter 3 of the book is central, even “climactic,” to use Dr. Zeigler’s word. Chapter 3 tells of Ruth’s nocturnal visit to Boaz at the threshing floor, where, dressed and perfumed, she lies down at his feet. I am not going to delve into the question of precisely what transpired there. Was there a sexual encounter? Many commentaries address the nature of that meeting; suffice it to say that Ruth and Boaz were not practicing social distancing. The question that intrigues Dr. Ziegler is, what motivated Boaz to guarantee Ruth’s impending redemption? Was it love or attraction or passion? Was he smitten from the moment he encountered her gleaning in his fields, in Chapter 2? Was she in love with him? If so, then we must wait until Chapter 4, when the nearest of kin potential redeemer takes himself out of the running, for the two to be united.

But what if that was not the case? What if Ruth was honorably seeking both recognition and the opportunity to build a future for herself and for her mother-inlaw, Naomi, now that her husband, Machlon, had died? In this scenario, regardless of whether they were attracted to each other, Boaz’s primary motivation was to effectuate Ruth and Naomi’s redemption; to find a goel, a redeemer, who would both buy Naomi’s field and marry Ruth, thereby restoring Naomi’s property to her and reviving the name of the deceased by giving progeny to Naomi and Ruth. This is the reading Dr. Ziegler favors. In her view, the redeemer didn’t have to be Boaz for Boaz to be our hero. The hero is not so much who marries Ruth as it is who effectuates the redemption. Perhaps, when Boaz says, he really is saying, if the closer relative redeems you, it’s totally fine with me, but if not, I’ll do it.

How does this relate to the reason I’m here addressing you today? I think that effective community service comes from a combination of a feeling of responsibility, coupled with a passion for - or attraction to - engaging in certain kinds of activities. For me, serving as an officer of the shul, on the rabbinic and cantorial search committees, as a member of the Chevra Kadisha, and a participant in classes and in the Women’s Tefillah group, have enabled me to shape the shul’s future continued from previous page in a positive way and live up to the ideals and values of our faith, while at the same time deriving satisfaction from contributing that is rewarding and energizing.

I thank our rabbis, our officers, our trustees, and everyone else who recruited me and offered me so many opportunities to serve our community. Thank you for bestowing this honor on me today. And thank you for creating an opportunity for all my beloved children and grandchildren to spend Yom tov with me! Dana and Marc, Ali and Dan, Amanda and Jon, Jason, and Ariel: you and your children are the loves of my life. Thank you for being here today. To Bob, my friend, my partner, my helper – thank you for the love, support, understanding and encouragement you’ve given me for the last 38 years. And, as a former National Chair of the Anti-Defamation League and a past President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, thank you for modeling for me what effective communal leadership is all about. I love you.

Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

by Liora Schulman

Thank you, Rabbi Steinmetz, for your kind introduction and your support and guidance over the years.

Mazal Tov, Surie. I am honored to be recognized with you today and am inspired by all that you have done for KJ.

I am humbled to stand in front of you all today and receive this award among the many accomplished women that have received it in the past.

The importance of being involved in a Jewish community was instilled in me from a young age. As a child my father served as the president of the Marais Road Synagogue in Cape Town, South Africa. My fondest childhood memories all surround Shul – whether it was sitting next to my mother listing to the Chazan and choir recite the Shabbat prayers, chesed projects in which we sold crafts to raise money, community celebrations of Simchat Torah where we danced in the streets or just enjoying a cup of tea and a sweet kichel with chopped herring at our weekly shul kiddush. Shul has always been a part of my life. When I was eight years old my family immigrated to the United States and my parents joined the Boca Raton Synagogue where they both were leaders in the shul’s Chevra Kadisha. My parents always set an example of going to shul and being active participants; my father would often be one of the first people in Shul and recite the pseukeh d’zimra. These values are what drove me to get involved when my husband, Ben, and I joined KJ.

We became a family here at KJ six and a half years ago when Ben and I welcomed our son Charlie and celebrated his Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot brit in the Kesher minyan. We have since then named and celebrated a Simchat Bat for both of our daughters, Sophie and Nellie, here at KJ.

Over the course of my life, the greatest fulfillment has come from relationships I have built - and specifically here at KJ I have been inspired to get involved as a result of seeing what others have done for the community. One of the first ways that I became involved here was by helping to plan the Kesher Challah Bake. During the planning meeting I brought up to the committee that one of my closest friends was struggling with infertility and I shared that she felt isolated and like she was the only one suffering. We then decided to make the challah bake an infertility awareness event where woman from our community could share their infertility stories in the hope that it would allow others who were struggling to feel less alone have someone to go to if they wanted to talk. I am thankful to Nicole Agus and Rachel Kraus for their guidance at that first Challah Bake, and I am thankful that the current Kesher Presidium have continued this event. Now, six years later, the Challah Bake is a mainstay on the Kesher calendar and, to me, one of the most impactful events.

In 2019 when I was asked to serve as one of the Kesher Presidium, I thought that would just entail planning social events, but it turned out to be so much more. Through my role as co-president, I was able to have many wonderful interactions with the KJ rabbinical team as well as work with our amazing administrative staff all the while learning about the rich history of KJ. What surprised me the most was the number of people that I would meet and interact with, and as I look around the room today, I see so many people who welcomed me and helped me along the way. KJ is truly a special place where although it may be large in terms of the numbers of member families, it feels like a small congregation where everyone knows your name.

In this morning’s reading of Megillat Ruth we read about Ruth, a widow of Moabite origin who insists on staying with her widowed, Israelite mother-in-law Naomi, declaring “Wherever you go, I will go... your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (1:16). The story of Ruth and Naomi depicts a young woman who willingly and with love stays with an older woman and helps her return to her home, AND an older woman who willingly and with love guides the younger towards a future that will be blessed with security and warmth. No great theater, no powerful revelation, just the day-to-day living of two people helping each other out. The story of Ruth and Naomi resonates so deeply with me because it depicts the simplicity of being there for someone else. That is what KJ is all about - being there for others.

I feel fortunate to have participated in the Covid vaccine appointment program which Leah Modlin so graciously ran. As part of the program, shul volunteers worked with seniors to secure them vaccine appointments at a critical time when the vaccines were first rolling out and appointments were hard to get if you were not computer savvy. This program parallels the story of Ruth and Naomi where we volunteered with love and were able to help fellow community members. For me, what I got in return was so much more ––it not only gave me a break from being a working mom with children on Zoom school, but most importantly it allowed me to bond with older people in the community and learn from them. I still keep in contact with many of the people I helped.

KJ has given my family and me a home, and we have gotten so much more from this community than we can ever give backand for that I am thankful to all of you. I want to thank my mother, Sheryl, and my late father, Charles, for instilling the importance of chesed and community involvement in my brother Doron and me. I want to thank my mother-in-law, Charlene, and my father-in-law, Myron, for their continuous support; their commitment to chesed continues to inspire me. I want to thank my husband, Ben, for being my biggest cheerleader and pushing me to follow my dreams.

Finally, I would like to thank my children Charlie, Sophie, and Nellie. You are the lights of my life and I hope that from your home and your congregational home you learn about the importance of Judaism, Israel, Torah and being a good person.

Thank you all for being here today and Chag Sameach!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 26

THURSDAY, JULY 27