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Health & Fitness

Local Women Honored

Last month on Simchat Torah, two congregants were presented with prestigious awards from Temple Beth Abraham (TBA).   Our winner of the Kallat Torah Award is given to a person who has devoted themselves to the TBA community for an extended period of time.  The Hatan B’reishit Award honors a member of our community who has shown great spiritual growth during the past year.  This growth can come in the form of increased ritual observance, energetic participation in Temple life and/or a general increase in Jewish learning. 

This year, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the recipient of the Kallat Torah Award would be Canton resident, Marci Bernotas, a true leader.  Marci has been at the helm our congregation in the President/ Past President / Vice President role for more than more than half a decade.  There is no one more deserving of this honor than Marci for her dedication to the Temple Beth Abraham family.  While just as obvious, was the awarding of the B’reishit Award to Amy Litwack, a member of our community from Stoughton who has embraced a leadership role as TBA’s Board of Education co-chair for the past three years, reads Torah and Haftorah regularly on Shabbat and has enhanced our High Holiday services with her beautiful voice.  During Temple Beth Abraham’s Simchat Torah celebration, both Amy and Marci received their awards and provided us with insight into their journeys through life that have led them to be honored. 

Amy who jokes that her Judaism is “gloriously imperfect” shared with the community how her “Jewish” journey began as a young child from a Jewish but non-observant family in Rhode Island ended up at an Orthodox Jewish Day school.  Here is an excerpt from her speech:

Fast forward twenty plus years: I have two children who both attend Hebrew school because I wanted them to develop the same positive roots that I had growing up.  Funny thing about wanting your kids to have a strong and happy foundation in Jewish life - it turns out your own roots grow deeper as well. 

I became more active. I attend services frequently enough to be known as a “Shabbat regular”. I even rearranged my work schedule so I could attend bible babble (held at the super-convenient time of noon on Wednesdays.) I truly enjoy being part of this community. I look forward to spending Saturday mornings with my "Shabbat regular" family. I am grateful that I ‘passed’ my interview with (fellow congregants) Dena and Judy which deemed me suitable to read Torah here. I love attending Bible Babble and marveling at the soap-opera nature of our dysfunctional biblical ancestors, wrestling with my own flaws in the context of theirs. I’m learning that my own struggles behind kashrut and tallit and all those other questions I have - that's where the meaningful part lives for me. That is my Judaism. And so even in all my glorious imperfection, I am in good company in Jewish history; part of an everlasting community. It’s comforting to know that there is always potential for spiritual growth and development. I love knowing that next week, next Yom Kippur, next year - I can do better.

Amy concluded her speech by sharing her thanks to the TBA community, “…who have offered me new (and old) friendships that I treasure, and make this such a warm and welcoming place to be.  I am honored to have this, my very own SuperJew award.  On those days that I feel especially imperfect, this will remind me that I am still doing something right.”

Marci’s journey story began when she first agreed to be on the Board of Directors at Temple Beth Abraham.  Marci lightly tells of “some serious arm twisting” that led to her increased involvement.  Yet, the following excerpt from her acceptance speech clearly show that "arm twisting" isn't always a bad thing.

What I learned over the past 5 years is that we have an amazing group of Professional and lay leaders who were always willing to help guide me and work with me through fun times and through the difficult ones. The spirit of cooperation and willingness to volunteer that so many of you showed me was inspiring. Whenever I felt that the job was becoming overwhelming and all encompassing, there was always someone to tell me that I was doing a great job and that they appreciated my work. It made the many hours I put in here so worthwhile. I’ll let you in on a little secret.  I have a file on my computer called “letters to make me feel better”. Whenever I questioned my sanity for doing this job, all I had to do was open that file and read one of your letters.  They always reminded me why I volunteered to do this in the first place. But the job of President, for me, was much more than just the practical day to day running of the building and the congregation.  It allowed me to explore what Judaism really meant to me. It allowed me to become more involved with Shabbat services and Holiday celebrations. It gave me the confidence to learn to chant Torah and Haftarah, something I’m sure I would never have done if I hadn’t already been spending so much time in the temple anyway. It gave me the opportunity to work closely with our professionals.I treasure the times I was able to spend one on one with Rabbi David and Melissa Rudman. I hope I’m not speaking out of turn when I say that I not only respect them professionally but I consider them to be personal friends as well. I can’t even begin to count the number of hours that Judy Steinberg and I spent on the phone or in person.  When I stepped down from the Presidency this year I went through a real withdrawal from my phone time with her (although I’m sure that my brothers, who I have the pleasure of working with in my other job probably noticed an uptick in my productivity at work). My morning commute phone calls with my immediate past president, Cheryl, solved many of my problems at TBA and made the ride go so much faster. And finally, I wouldn’t have been able to do all that I did without the input and advice of our many committee chairs and lay volunteers. 

Receiving the Kallat Torah award is truly humbling. I never went into this job for the recognition or to be honored in any way. I tend to have a hard time accepting complements.  Everything I did, I did it for the love of my temple and my TBA family. The greatest reward for putting in so many hours here is the ability to call all of you my friends. And for that, I am truly grateful. 

These two women, Amy Litwack and Marci Bernotas were honored just a few weeks ago.  The congregation of Temple Beth Abraham is proud to publically share our appreciation for the time, the talent, the insight, and  the leadership that they bring to the TBA community. 

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