Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger to speak at Congregation Beth Shalom Sunday, Jan. 12

Congregation Beth Shalom will welcome Rabbi Ralph Meckenburger to the synagogue’s Arlington campus Jan. 12. At 9:30 a.m., there will be a complimentary breakfast. Rabbi Mecklenburger will speak at 10:30 about his book, “Our Religious Brains.”
Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger grew up in suburban Chicago, attended the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he was ordained in 1972 and granted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1997
Rabbi Mecklenburger served congregations in San Francisco, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan before becoming senior rabbi of Beth-El Congregation, Fort Worth for 32 years until his retirement in 2016. He continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member at Brite Divinity School, TCU.
His book, “Our Religious Brains,” was published in 2012 and reissued in paperback in 2015.
Among many honors, Rabbi Mecklenburger has been president of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis and Jewish co-chair of the Texas Conference of Churches’ Jewish-Christian Forum. He and his wife, Ann, have two grown children, Elissa and Alan, and they are blessed with four grandchildren.
Please contact Thressa in the CBS office at info@bethshalom.org or by phone at 817-860-5448 to RSVP for breakfast by Thursday, Jan. 9. Copies of this book will be available for purchase for $15 each, and Rabbi Mecklenburger will be happy to autograph your copy.

Fort Worth’s JWV, JWVA install officers

Sandra Cantor, national president of the Jewish War Veterans Auxiliary, installed the officers of the Dolores R. Schneider Post 755 Sunday at Congregation Beth-El, Fort Worth.
The officers are: Charwynne Hazelwood, president; Elaine Bumpus, vice president; Jayne Michel, secretary; Christine Levy, treasurer; and Marian Haber, chaplain.
In a joint ceremony Barry Schneider, past national commander of Jewish War Veterans, installed the officers of the Jewish War Veterans, Martin Hochster Post 755.
The officers are: Nana Atkens, commander; Phil Kabakoff, senior vice-commander; Laurin Baum, staff judge advocate; Fred Korngut, officer of the day; Michael Ross, quartermaster; Rabbi Sidney Zimelman, chaplain; and Will Kutler, aide de camp.