By Sharon Wisch-Ray
sharonw@texasjewishpost.com
When the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County convenes its 79th annual meeting at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, at Beth-El Congregation, a highlight of the evening is sure to be the presentation of the Wolens Award to Diane Kleinman.
The Wolens Award was established by the late Jerry and Sylvia Wolens to inspire leadership for the Federation through a subsidy to attend the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly. This year the GA is Nov. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.
Diane Kleinman is a Canadian transplant who spent several years in El Paso before making Fort Worth her home with her husband Sam and their two children Mallory and Bryce. Diane, a registered nurse, happily put her career on hold to raise children. She has served on the Jewish Education Agency board, the Beth-El Congregation board and is currently on the board of the Jewish Federation and has served on its programming committee. She is slated to become the new vice president in charge of the Annual Campaign. Diane participated in this year’s Federation leadership program and mission to Israel along with 12 others from the community.
“As the saying goes, I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could! I wasn’t born Jewish, so I’m making up for lost time! I believe in the importance of Israel and I love the Fort Worth Jewish community. I am happy to give back and be involved as a volunteer for the Jewish Federation,” says Diane.
In addition to the Wolens Award presentation, special guest Daniel Agranov, deputy consul general of Israel to the Southwest U.S., will speak. A dessert reception to honor outgoing and incoming volunteer leaders will follow the meeting.
Don’t miss Six13
Six13, an a cappella group, is coming to Fort Worth to perform at a free family concert presented by B’nai B’rith at 2 p.m. this Sunday afternoon, May 31 at Congregation Ahavath Sholom in Fort Worth.
The high-energy, six-man contemporary pop group’s Jewish songs are anchored by a thumping beatbox, intricate arrangements and soulful harmonies. Their songs range from dance tracks to rock anthems backed by hard-hitting “drums.” The members of the New York-based group sound like a full band while using nothing but their voices. The group, which has performed all over the world, mixes Jewish favorites with clever parodies of today’s hits. Along the way there are laughs, sing-alongs, demonstrations and words of Torah.
Anyone who has ever seen them perform has been ecstatic about their show. Says Cantor Sheri Allen of Congregation Beth Shalom, “These guys are amazing! I saw them perform in person a few years ago at a Cantors Assembly Convention, and they blew me away! They are incredibly talented, wonderfully entertaining and extremely funny to boot. If you haven’t already seen their Passover parody, Uptown Passover, go online and check it out.”
The concert is free, but tickets are required for admission and are available at all Tarrant County synagogues. The concert, a gift to the Tarrant County Jewish community, is presented by B’nai B’rith Isadore Garsek Lodge 269, with support from the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, and the Dan Danciger/FWHDS Supporting Foundation.
Another way to get tickets for this unique Jewish family concert is by connecting with Rich Hollander, 817-909-4354, or Jim Stanton, 817-307-9167.
Howdy from the Freed family
What a joy recently to hear in one week from both Sandra and Buddy Freed, my former Fort Worth neighbors and carpoolers extraordinaire. Sandra wrote,
“Hope this finds you and your family doing well. We are doing OK (for our ages) here in Austin. Its a great town and there is so much going on it is impossible to take it all in. We do miss our Fort Worth friends.
“Want to let you know that Leslie’s daughter, Hannah Frishberg, is graduating after two years from Reed College. She is a very talented photo-journalist and has been published since high school in several online news organizations. One of her articles was picked up by the Huffington Post. She presently has a column (In Focus) in the online magazine Curbed. After graduation she will be employed by another Internet news organization.
We are getting ready to go to New York, where Shari’s daughter, Emily, will be sworn in as an attorney. She has been working at Baker Botts since graduating last June from UT Law School.
Sandra added, when I inquired, that Shari’s boys Sam and Charlie are also up to great things. Sam graduated from Rice two years ago with a degree in electrical engineering.
He went to work two days later for a company that makes thermocouplers and has traveled all over the world supervising their installation.
Charlie is a sophomore at Trinity University, where he is a mathematics and computer science major and is a member of a jazz band.
Later that week, I heard from Buddy Freed, who wrote to say he liked the story package we ran on his alma mater Texas A&M. You can read Buddy’s letter on Page 9 of this week’s issue.
Sandra tells me that they love Austin, but they do miss their Fort Worth folks. Incidentally, Sandra and Buddy were honored last month in Austin by Israel Bonds.
