Temple News
Temple Beth Solomon Celebrates 50 Years
On October 24, 2010 Temple Beth Solomon celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala event at the Warner Center Marriot. Here are some photos from that day.
Check In: L-R back: Kate & Gary Jacobson, Adele Podolsky,
Ellen Davidson, Elaine Aikins, Front: Ruth Richter, Carol
Trachtenberg
Devon Stern dances her original piece called Sabada
to the music Cyclown
Brunch on the patio
Rabbi Henkin & President Joe Slotnick
congratulate Lotte Friedman (90), Bess Hyman (92) and Sam Block
(100) on their milestone birthdays
Rabbi Henkin gives his remarks
Master of Ceremonies G. Bummy
Burstein
Deaf Festival
Temple Beth Solomon had a booth at the 7th Annual Deaf Festival in Woodley Park on September 25, 2010. A big thank you to our volunteers who were out there in 100+ degree temperature.
Welcome Miriam Shoshana Goldmann
Rabbi Deborah and Eyal with Miriam Shoshana
Goldmann
Rabbi Deborah and her husband Eyal are excited to announce the arrival of their baby girl, Miriam Shoshanah Goldmann, who was born December 27th, at 12:15 a.m. Join us for a welcoming ceremony for her on March 4th at 6:30 pm at Shabbat services in the Chapel at TAS. Lavish oneg to follow. Please RSVP.
Sisterhood Elects Officers
After 20 years of retirement from the TBS Sisterhood Board of Directors, I have been elected again to serve as President for the new term. I look forward, with my new board, to exciting times ahead. Please welcome our new team:
Board of Directors 2011-2013
Vice President-Helen Inga
Secretary-Carol Trachtenberg
Treasurer-Ruth Richter (31 years!)
Auditor-Elaine Aikins
We are now preparing for the Sisterhood's 50th Anniversary to be held in the spring of 2012. We are currently looking for a location. As chair of the committee I invite any Sisterhood member who is also a TBS member to join and help us plan the biggest event in our history. Carol Trachtenberg is our Social Events Chairwoman and will be coordinating those who want to sign up to host a fundrasing event. Our first fundraiser, Mexican Train, will be on March 26th at 10am at Pilgrim Towers. Bring your brown bag lunch, dessert will be provided by our hostess, Joanne Gleicher and her committee. We have a lot of work to do so roll up your sleeves and get ready to help!
-- Adele Podolsky
New Sisterhood Board from L-R: (back) Carol Trachtenberg, Helen
Inga, Elaine Aikins, (front) Ruth Richter, Adele Podolsky
Hanukkah Pot Luck
As always, we had a great time at the Hanukkah Dinner last December. We had lots to eat from the California Chicken Café and thank Candy Scott for bringing latkes.
Sarah Katz, Blake, Brook & Ashley Davis laugh as Rabbi
Deborah reads and Charles Katz (photo below) signs a wonderful
story by Lemony Snicket called, "The Latke Who Couldn't Stop
Screaming.
Florence Haberman 
The Davis girls, Ashley and Brook, learn how to play dreidel with
some tutoring from Rabbi Deborah.
Abe Winzelberg
July 17, 1927~December 4, 2010
Abe was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1927 to Max & Jenty Winzelberg. He lost his hearing as an infant when he fell from his baby carriage, so he was the only deaf member of his family.
When Abe was nine years old, in 1936, his family, which included twin sister, Elsie, and his older brother, Willie, escaped Nazi Germany and relocated to Guayaquil, Ecuador, the largest city and port in Ecuador, situated on the Guayas River. His family was very poor in South America and there were no schools or resources for the deaf and they wished for a better life. About ten years later Abe, Willie and their parents traveled to America by boat, arriving in New York, their new home. By that time, Elsie had married so did not join the family in New York. The family did not grow permanent roots in New York; soon after their arrival, Abe's brother Willie moved to southern California and the family followed.
Once in Southern California, Abe quickly found the Unison Club, the brainchild of Rose Zucker, meeting Elliott Fromberg and Ben Kronick who introduced him to the larger Deaf community. In 1954, Santa Monica Beach, was a popular venue for Sunday morning deaf volleyball and since Abe loved sports he thought he would give it a try. Elaine Meltzer (Aikins), home from school for the summer, noticed a very shy Abe sitting quietly watching and approached him to join them. Although he knew some German and Spanish, he did not know English or American Sign Language, so to communicate with him Elaine drew pictures and words in the wet sand. She was a good tutor because in November of 1958, Adolph Winzelberg was sworn in as a United States Citizen changing his name to Abe; he and Elaine remained fast friends for 58 years.
Rita Green, daughter of Max and Sarah Green of Toledo, Ohio, traveled to the very first National Congress of Jewish Deaf conference in 1956 in New York. There she met Abe, but he could not speak English well enough for them to get to know each other and Rita wasn't much interested. But Abe persisted and they met again at the third NCJD convention in 1960 in Chicago. Thanks to Elaine and some formal English classes, he became fluent enough in English and sign that they did finally get to know each other.
In June of 1962, Abe sent Rita a plane ticket to come to California to meet his family, which she gladly accepted. They were married five months later in a barn in North Hollywood; a small ceremony with mostly Abe's friends and family on November 22nd. Rabbi Solomon Kleinman, for whom TBS is named, performed the ceremony with student rabbi Bernard King, of blessed memory, assisting.
Two years later, on October 5th, 1965, Rita and Abe brought Debbie A. Winzelberg into the world. Abe's brother Willie and sister, Elsie, had five boys between them but finally Rita and Abe broke the cycle and brought the first girl into this male dominated family.
Abe supported his family as an upholsterer, a trade his uncle taught him. He worked for the West Charlton Company in Redondo Beach for many years alongside deaf friends, Henry DeLao and fellow TBS member, Leon Bensusen of blessed memory.
After retiring, Abe and Rita were fortunate enough to travel. They loved taking deaf cruises visiting Mexico, Alaska, Europe and their last trip to the Panama Canal.
Abe was a dedicated Member of TBS; an active member of the Sign Language Choir, the Men's Club, the Camera Club and could always be found helping at the annual fundraising Bazaar. He appears in all of the archival movie footage of TBS parties, fundraisers and events and though he will be missed, you can slip in the DVD from the TBS 50th anniversary and see him in his youth and not miss him quite as much.
Abe was a kind and caring man as shown by his many friends who came to say goodbye at his memorial service. His memory will be a sweet, sweet blessing.
Rabbi Bernard King
1938~November 29, 2010
Every Soul was important to him...He just understood the spirits within the human being and the human endeavor and he made a difference in people's lives... He shared with his words but taught with his soul
Senior Rabbi Richard Steinberg, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot
Rabbi Bernie King, surrounded by his loved ones, succumbed to liver cancer at the end of last November at his home in Lake Forrest. He was a beloved student rabbi in TBS' early beginnings in 1961, serving until 1964. In a phone conversation I (Jan) had with him several years ago, he told me, "TBS made me a good Rabbi, I learned how to give a sermon and used what I learned for the rest of my career." He told me that Beth Gesner, his sign language teacher at TBS, would critique his sermons and add her input for him to either make them shorter, more direct or some other way of communicating more effectively. He said it took him a long time to "hear" her and when he finally understood what she was telling him, he applied that to every audience he spoke to after that, realizing it didn't matter if they were hearing or deaf.
Bernie King with David Balacaier
Rabbi King's passion was peace and interfaith harmony, his pioneering work showed how much he lived his passion. His friends and family say his interfaith work was motivated by his view of seeing the holiness in everyone. The license plate on his SUV and his email address both read: U2RHOLY.
In 1965 he joined Martin Luther King in the last march from Selma to Montgomery after hearing the radio news reports of the Bloody Sunday protesters. Two years after the Montgomery march, he traveled to Minsk and Moscow on behalf of Soviet Jewry. In 1978, he was the founding president of Newport/Costa Mesa/Irvine Interfaith Council and founding board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews of Orange County.
He was continuously brought together with other faiths, seemingly happenstance, but when you know your passion things magically align and interfaith harmony was the theme that intertwined all the aspects of his life of service.
In 1978, his Temple joined with St. Mark Presbyterian Church, a partnership that came together when Rabbi King met their pastor at an interfaith gathering. His daughter Adeena Homampour, who is a speech therapist, said, "...Everyone was a reflection of God to him, he was a Rabbi but he understood that there are different faiths for different people."
His son, Stephen said, "I think his legacy was anyone who met him immediately connected with him, his soul, his smile and his eyes. He would draw people in. That allowed him to do the great work with the community as a rabbi and interfaith person. Everything was about inclusiveness."
"He was a man with openness and graciousness...He was certainly open to the Muslim community," said Muzammil Siddiqi, Director of the Islamic Society of Orange County. "We feel that we've lost a good friend."
Born April 21, 1938, in Arizona and raised in San Francisco, he was a submariner in the Navy before earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy from UCLA. He received his Rabbinic degree from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles in 1969, then founded Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot in Irvine where he stayed for 32 years, retiring in 2001 as Rabbi Emeritus. The congregation began as Harbor Reform Temple with 50 families, renting space in various churches in Newport Beach, eventually under Rabbi King's leadership expanding to 650 families.
Rabbi King met his wife Barbara at temple. She had moved to Orange County to take a teaching position and had heard about the "touchy, feely" congregation in Newport Beach. After they married, she accompanied her husband in all his work: bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, funerals etc. She said, "Rabbis are very busy people and if I didn't go to everything, I wouldn't be able to see him." They had a strong partnership, sharing their goals and philosophy. Together they created the Adopt-A-Family Inner City Program to help needy families in Orange County after the riots of 1992. Through the Santa Ana School where Barbara taught, they matched up needy families with members of the congregation to provide meals during Thanksgiving and gifts for Christmas for more than 1000 people.
Rabbi Bernie received many awards for his humanitarian efforts, including the American Jewish Committee's prestigious Micah Award in 1982. He and Barbara were named Humanitarians of the Year in 1993 by the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Anti-Defamation League's Leaders of Distinction Award in 2001.
The last communication TBS had with Rabbi Bernie was not long before he passed. It was a poignant sentiment that embodied who he was - honoring the holiness in others:
"I have been dealing with a large malignant tumor in my liver which is the reason Barbara and I couldn't celebrate TBS' 50th with you. I did have the wonderful privilege of being with you during the Temple's first years and now must celebrate with you from afar. My best wishes, love and hugs to the congregation; you are among my very finest rabbinic memories and were my deepest teachers in how to be a mensch. Mazel Tov and I send God's richest blessings to you all."
Along with his wife, Barbara, Rabbi Bernie leaves four wonderful children: David, Stephen, Neil and Adeena. He is buried in beautiful Corona Del Mar, where his lovely spirit will certainly bring them peace. His passing leaves a huge void and we will truly miss him so much. His memory is for a sweet, sweet blessing.
If you are looking for the electronic edition of the CN click here.