Museum presents exhibit on Sam Rosen
Sam Rosen, an immigrant from Kovarsk, Russia, arrived in Texas in the 1880s and rose from frontier peddler into entrepreneur extraordinaire. His name remains on Fort Worth landmarks, among them an elementary school, a subdivision and a Baptist church — although his family was active at Beth-El and Ahavath Sholom.
Fort Worth’s Museum of Science and History reopened in November with a new building and a local-history exhibit that includes two display cases and one exhibit board showcasing Rosen’s accomplishments. He developed a streetcar line, a 1,500-acre subdivision for workers at the Swift and Armour meatpacking plants and an amusement park with a 50-acre lake. A number of thoroughfares are named for this pioneer and his Beaumont relatives, among them Ephraim Avenue, named for his son.
Rosen’s grandson, attorney Sam Rosen, a past president of Beth-El and a collector of Rosen family memorabilia, will share the artifacts through the spring exhibit.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located at 1600 Gendy St. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Admission fee is $14/adult, $10/juniors and seniors. Wednesdays is a free day for the community. For information, call 888-255-9300.
Federation forms focus groups
As part of the Jewish Federation’s Strategic Planning Project, community members can participate in 90-minute small group discussions. Groups will be moderated by a consultant and will focus on perceptions about our Jewish community and how we should move forward. All discussions are strictly confidential and only general findings will be reported.
Please call the Federation at 817-569-0892, if you have 90 minutes to volunteer. Following are available dates and times: Sunday, March 21, 7:30 p.m.; Monday, March 22, 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, March 23, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. All groups will meet at the Federation office, off Briarhaven and Hulen.
Church delegates visit Jewish archives
Hollace Weiner tells the TJP that volunteer archivists from the Episcopal Diocese in Fort Worth visited the Beth-El Archives recently to learn how to set up archives in their various churches. She and Rosanne Margolis explained the details of how to set up a similar exhibit.
A delegation from St. Andrews Catholic Church also visited the Fort Worth Jewish Archives at Congregation Ahavath Sholom to see firsthand how the archives operate. Serving on the committee with Hollace are Adeline Myers, Joe Klein and Hannah Howard.
The archives at Beth-El and Ahavath Sholom represent all the Jewish organizations in the community.
Miriam’s Seder at Beth-El
Miriam’s Seder, an annual Tarrant County women’s event, will be held on Sunday, March 21, 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of Beth-El Congregation, 4900 Briarhaven Road, Fort Worth.
Come share spirituality, laughter and fun with other women (bat mitzvah age and beyond) celebrating a seder for the new millennium. Using a revised Haggadah, the group will explore the historical and contemporary importance of women. Bring a cushion to recline on a tambourine for dancing, and there will be delicious food, of course!
Admission is $32 per person, by reservation only. Credit cards are not accepted. The event is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. Please contact Karen Telschow Johnson at 817-707-4518 or ktjatty@aol.com for scholarship information and reservations.
Please make checks payable to, and send to: Karen Telschow Johnson, Chair–Tarrant County Women’s Seder, 3090 Bellaire Ranch Drive, No. 427, Fort Worth, TX 76109.
Bernie Appel campaigns for Federation
Bernie Appel was invited to Macon, Ga., March 1–4 to solicit for the Federation campaign. He met with 18 donors at their homes and offices, at lunches and at dinners, to tell the Israel story. The visit was successful on behalf of that Jewish Federations of North America Network community. Bernie serves on the executive committee of the 400 Network communities.
Golden Strings play for golden-agers
The Jewish Family Services Senior Program was delighted to have the Golden Strings play for a crowd of over 75 people. The Sylvia Gray Chavurah of Arlington and members of the Daytimers also joined the group. A kosher hot dog lunch was provided free of charge and the music was enjoyed by everyone. Couples danced together and some people even danced by themselves. It was a lovely way to start the celebration of Purim. The event ended with coffee and hamantaschen baked by the CAS Ladies Auxiliary.
Hedy Collins and family dedicate playground in Israel
Hedy Collins recently returned from Israel, where she and her family dedicated a playground to her grandparents, who were Holocaust survivors. She wrote, “It was a fantastic trip. My brother, Ben Gutmann, a prominent resident of Northern New Jersey, had dreamed of spending his 60th birthday with his family in Israel. He hosted a weeklong tour of Israel for over 50 friends and family from the states. We ranged in ages from 18 months to 89 years! He had a beautiful party in Tel Aviv. We had over 60 Israeli relatives join the festivities.
“One of the highlights of the trip was a park and playground donated by my brother and his wife Susan and their children to the West Bank settlement of Nofey Prat. It is in memory of my grandparents who died in Auschwitz. Ben (who is named after our grandfather and I am named after my grandmother) had no memorial and what better way than to honor them with a playground and park for children.
“It was incredible. There were eight of my grandparents, nine grandchildren present at the dedication (one cousin passed away last year). We were joined by the children and families of Nofey Prat and many other friends and family.”
Janice Rubin’s ‘Mikvah Project’ on display in Europe
Janice Rubin’s “The Mikvah Project” is currently on exhibit in Europe. The Jewish Museum Hohenems is collaborating with the Jewish Museums of Frankonia, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna on the display.
The oldest Jewish ritual bath in Austria has been preserved in Hohenems. To coincide with the restoration of this historic building, the Jewish Museum Hohenems is offering an insight into a private realm of Jewish life, between religious tradition and secular stirrings.
With the special exhibition “Ganz rein!” from March 9 to Oct. 3, the museum is opening up an exploration of ritual and freedom, sexuality and marriage, gender roles and religion, with concepts of cleanness and uncleanness — questions that give rise to conflicts in all religions in the present as well.
The exhibition goes into the historical deeper dimension of those purification rituals that extend from Judaism to the ritual of baptism, and deals with the theme of the renaissance of mikvahs as a token of a disputed new Jewish spirituality.
Architectural studies of European mikvahs by the Frankfurt photographer Peter Seidel show the diversity of the forms of building over the centuries, and “The Mikvah Project” by the American artists Janice Rubin and Leah Lax portrays women in the mikvah and their very personal responses to this old ritual.
Janice Rubin is the daughter of Barbara Rubin of Fort Worth and Sherwin Rubin of Arlington.
‘Left Luggage’ is next in Ahavath Sholom film series
The next film in Congregation Ahavath Sholom’s ‘Til 120 and Beyond Jewish Film Series will stay with you forever.
“Left Luggage” is a movie about the love of a young nanny and the 5-year-old boy she cares for. This young woman is offered a job working as a nanny for a strict Chassidic religious family. They don’t understand her and she doesn’t understand them. But the love between the nanny and the boy bridges the gap between misunderstanding and destiny. Through her relationship with the family she gains insight into the lives of her own parents, who are concentration camp survivors. The film stars Isabella Rossellini, Maximilian Schell and Chaim Topol, among others.
“Left Luggage” will screen Sunday, March 21 at 3:30 p.m. The doors will open at 3 for those who want to come early for a good seat.
Remember, the films are free. Popcorn and lemonade are free as well. Cold drinks and candy bars are on sale with the proceeds going to the Shul’s United Synagogue Youth organization.
Ahavath Sholom thanks the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County for generously funding its film series.
Come enjoy and be a part of Congregation Ahavath Sholom’s ‘Til 120 and Beyond experience.
WRJ thanks Beth-El women for a sweet Purim
Loretta Causey, a member of Beth-El’s Women of Reform Judaism, wrote in the WRJ Newsletter: “The Sweetness of Purim….
“The many ladies who baked in the Beth-El kitchen and in their homes helped fulfill our WRJ obligation for more than 1,600 hamantaschen for the several Purim celebrations over the weekend. A big thanks goes to Linda Hoffman, who coordinated the temple WRJ bake-in. Through her contacts, several ladies enjoyed a lively baking experience at the temple. We were told that Elizabeth Cooper prepared enough dough for over 1,000 hamantaschen. What a feat for ladies, molding 1,000 triangular cookies and getting them together for the Purim community festival, the Purim celebration at the temple on Saturday evening as well as for Religious School.
“Several ladies baked from their homes and provided ample hamantaschen for the Interfaith Shabbat and for the Religious School on Sunday morning. Everyone had a sweet taste and received a touch of the labor of love from WRJ members…. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!”