hIghlIghts - Congregation Beth El

congregation beth el1301 Oxford StreetBerkeley, CA 94709-1424A Bit of Historyby Odette Blachman and Robinn MagidFROM THE GIFT SHOPThe Beth El Gift Shop began over 50 years ago as a small glasscase displayed in a corner of the social hall. In about 1958 itwas moved to a small room the size of a large closet adjoiningthe main office at Arch and Vine streets. The room was keptlocked and sales mainly occurred on Sunday mornings duringreligious school and by appointment. In turn, a series of dedicatedvolunteers took charge including Sydel Lemmerman (RabbiZellman’s grandmother), Odette Blachman, Fran Alexander, LoisMarcus, Gail Bernstein, Lori Ferguson and others.As Beth El’s membership grew and space was needed, theGift Shop’s small room was converted into two cramped officecubicles for the Midrasha and nursery school directors. The shopwas relegated to two glass showcases in the hallway just insidethe synagogue’s Arch Streetentrance. It was 16 years agowhen Robinn and Odettewere asked to step in andmanage the shop. Beforelong, the inventory grew andJim Emery constructed someshelves down the hall to giveus more display space. Whatwe discovered to our surprisewas that giving up the little room was a blessing in disguise. Theshop was more visible and sales doubled, then tripled.Keeping this experience in mind, we planned the space in theOxford building for the reception and office lobby area. Wecould not manage to supply volunteers around the clock andthe office staff was able to fill in to make sales when needed.This has been a good decision. We steadily built the businessand had our best year in 2007; not surprisingly, we weresubsequently affected by the recession. We are slowly recoveringand will end this year doing better than last year.We took in $6,642, at the Chanukah Bazaar, just about $1,000more than last year. We probably sold an estimated $2,500 inthe following week. So far, we have contributed approximately$12,500 in 2012 to the synagogue.For the future, we look forward to providing a convenient placeto shop for gifts and tasteful Judaica not just for our members,but to the broader Jewish community. Thank you for yourcontinued support of the Gift Shop during this holiday seasonand throughout the year. We hope to offer you new great itemsin the new year as we help raise revenue for Beth El.For a special appointment to browse the Gift Shop, contactOdette at oblachman@sbcglobal.net.