Around the Town: Tarrant County, Bnai Brith

Compiled by Sharon Wisch-Ray

Tarrant County’s Reform congregations to host Joy Ladin as Selichot scholar

The Reform congregations of Tarrant County — Arlington’s Beth Shalom, Colleyville’s Beth Israel and Fort Worth’s Beth-El — will host Joy Ladin as their Selichot Scholar-in-Residence. The weekend will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at Beth-El, 4900 Briarhaven Road. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, Cantor Sheri Allen and Rabbi Brian Zimmerman will lead the service and Ladin will deliver the sermon.

Saturday morning, Beth Shalom will host Shabbat services at 10 a.m. at the synagogue, 1212 Thannisch Drive.

A Selichot lecture and service will conclude the trio of events at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Beth Israel in Colleyville, 6100 Pleasant Run Road.

Joy Ladin holds the Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University, and in 2007 became the first and still only openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution. Her memoir, “Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders,” was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. her recent book, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective,” is a Lambda Literary Award and Triangle Award finalist. She has also published nine books of poetry.

All in the community are welcome. For more information, contact any of the three congregations. This program is made possible through the generosity of the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

B’nai B’rith Person of the Year Dinner

Don’t forget, B’nai B’rith International President Chuck Kaufman will be the guest speaker at this year’s Isadore Garsek Lodge Person of the Year Dinner. Hollace Weiner will present the history of the Isadore Garsek Lodge. The program is 6:30-9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, at Beth El-Congregation, 4900 Briarhaven Road. Babe’s Chicken Dinner House is catering and tickets will be available for purchase through Friday. To purchase tickets, contact, Marvin Beleck, marvinbeleck@aol.com; Rich Hollander, rich.d.hollander@gmail.com, 817-909-4354; Alex Nason, anason53@gmail.com; or Dan Sturman, dsturman@charter.net. This year’s B’nai B’rith person of the year will be revealed Sunday.

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