2007 - United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

100-250 San Leandro, CA
Submitted by Kat Wellman 510-357-8505
Brief History of Temple: Temple Beth Sholom is a small United Synagogue congregation situated in the middle of a
dozen or more larger congregations in the East (San Francisco) Bay area. A majority of our congregants settled in this
region after mustering out of the military at the conclusion of World War 11. That means that the majority of our
households are headed by an adult 80 years of age or older. As a result a great emphasis of our congregational activity is
on prayer and study.
History of Temple Adult Education: Ten years ago most of our adult education was offered in the evenings, on Sundays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. As time went on, fewer and fewer synagogue members drove their cars in the
dark and the evening classes were moved to the daylight hours. Today we offer an adult education opportunity almost
every day of the week that is specifically provided for a literate, Jewishly knowledgeable and sophisticated retired
senior community.
Recently a phenomenal preschool open to the entire community has given us a wonderful reputation as a warm
and welcoming synagogue family. About a third of the children in our preschool are Jewish, the rest are Christian,
Muslim and Buddhist, African-American, Latinos, Asian and every combination thereof. So our Preschool Director and
Rabbi have begun to offer an array of basic Judaism classes in the evenings once again.
Weekly Schedule of Adult Education Classes:
Sundays: On Sundays, we have offered special mini-courses which coincides with our Torah School, allowing the
parents the opportunity to attend. A wonderful light brunch is also served. Recent mini-courses taught by our Rabbi
have included the following:
• Jewish History Through the Literature of Our People
• Jewish Philosophy, Philosopher by Philosopher
• If There Were No Jews There Would Be No Superhero Comics
This latter class was featured on the front page of our local newspaper, the “Daily Review.” (The same article
was on the front page of the Metro Section in at least three other local newspapers, “Oakland Tribune,” “San Jose
Mercury News” and the “Valley News.”) Last week we had 30 people from the synagogue and from the community
(due to the great publicity) to listen to the Rabbi share his passion.
On Sunday mornings, we have also had classes on Kashrut taught by Sophie Miron, past president of our
synagogue, in preparation for Pesach and in general for Conservative Jews.
learn.
Additionally on Sunday mornings, Erida Parker teaches Biblical Hebrew at all levels to any adult who wants to
For good health and fun, one of our members Sondra Schwartz teaches a gentle exercise class called Ruach Hag-ba’at,
using Qi Gung, she combines spirituality and meditation along with various exercises to increase movement, flexibility
and energy for our members.
Tuesday Morning: After our morning minyan (which contractually must be lay led) our Rabbi leads a seminar on
RaMBaM’s Guide for the Perplexed. This on-going weekly seminar has been meeting for five years. Each week the
Guide is read together by the group and the Rabbi leads the analysis. This style of close reading of the text has been a
hallmark of our Rabbi’s ten years at Temple Beth Sholom. (The group was first assembled to read the entire text of
Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews. They began the current study of the Guide after a close reading of the Mishnah.) Our
dedicated group of six or eight people includes a non-Jewish community member and members of our synagogue
ranging in age from late 50s to early 90s.
Tuesday Evening: Recently our new younger members have requested a learners’ minyan for Tuesday evenings to be
followed by a seminar in Jewish Spirituality. The minyan is lead by new shelikhim with help from our Rabbi who sits
comfortably in the back of the congregation. For the past month and a half, this group of mostly new members and
mostly young working adults, has been studying the chapters of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath. Almost