Mark Kreditor returns to ‘Daytimers’

An overflowing crowd greeted Mark Kreditor as he made his fifth trip to entertain the “Daytimers” at Beth-El, Wednesday, June 15. He featured Jewish composers John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote “Cabaret” and “New York, New York,” Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, composers of “Bye-Bye Birdie,” “Annie,” and the theme from “All in the Family,” and Richard Adler and Jerry Ross (nee Rosenbaum), whose shows included “Pajama Game” and “Damn Yankees.”
Kreditor does all his musical programs to raise funds for the Ann and Nate Levine Academy  and the group donated nearly $300 for the program. The next event for the “Daytimers” will be their annual movie and ice cream social, Wednesday, July 20, at 1 p.m.
For reservations, call Barbara Rubin at 817-927-2736. Checks can be mailed to “Daytimers,” Beth-El Congregation, 4900 Briarhaven Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76109, or you may reserve your spot online at http://www.bethelfw.org/donations.
The Sylvia Wolens “Daytimers” is a program of Beth-El Congregation with financial support from the Jewish Federation.

Fun celebrations at Beth-El Congregation

Ilana Knust tells the TJP that Beth-El Congregation has had some stellar programming while celebrating Lag B’Omer and Shavuot. The June 7 Shavuot celebration included, a brief evening service, and then a choice of three programs: a discussion of the Ten Commandments with Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger; Shavuot cooking in the kitchen; and A Ten Commandments art workshop with Gloria Sepp.

Brands return from Spanish adventure

Welcome home to Jakub and Batya Brand who just returned from a fabulous trip to Spain. Batya told the TJP, “We rented a car and followed the footsteps of the Spanish Jews. We started with Granada, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Barcelona, Andora and Madrid. It was interesting to find streets named after famous Jewish rabbis, among them Rambam and Yehuda Halevi.”
Batya added, “There is not much left of the synagogues, it is almost hard to identify the place as a synagogue. One has to search for a Jewish symbol. In Granada, we had dinner and I was amazed to see on the menu a ‘Jewish Sefaradi Fish’ dish. We were told that it’s an heirloom recipe. Needless to say, I ordered it and it was fantastic. The fish was cooked with almonds and raisins on the sweet side. Friday night, Shabbat evening, we attended services at the Madrid synagogue. There is only one and the services were conducted in a Sefaradi tradition. They had a bar mitzvah and the boy lead some of the prayers. It was heart warming to see secular Jews, Chabad Jews, Satmar with a Shtreimel, and everyone got along. We met a group of Melton graduates from Houston who came to see what was left from the ‘Golden Age of Spain.’ The bottom line is that the Jews divorced themselves from Spain in 1492 and never returned to establish a new community.”
Batya concluded, “Spain, as a country, is beautiful. Madrid has a lot to offer and so does Barcelona. We had a great time and now it’s time to plan the next trip.”