Pacific Southwest Region

Simply stated, our mission is to unite and support our synagogue women’s groups and to help perpetuate Conservative/Masorti Judaism. Our summer workshops shared what our Region can do to support you. I hope you enjoy the pictures from those workshops in this newsletter. What about the second part of our mission, helping to perpetuate Conservative/ Masorti Judaism? Let me share how I represented you recently in that respect.

By Marilyn Berkowitz

As your Pacific Southwest Region President, I am privileged to sit on the boards of the American Jewish University, United Synagogue’s Region board and on the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies board. In the summer issue of CJ magazine, you might remember reading about a Conservative Movement Leadership Retreat in Baltimore in March where Women’s League, Men’s Club and United Synagogue sent delegates. Our International President, Cory Schneider (who will be here in October with us for the Shabbaton, annual meeting and our PSW Study Day) said, “The Conservative movement needs to work together and recognize that we do have power if we speak in one voice.” After the retreat, our PSW Region was one of three Regions asked to be a part of a pilot program bringing together the arms of the movement. I have been meeting with Steve Berger, Men’s Club Region President and Bart Kogen, United Synagogue Region President and we are beginning to design a program which we will share with our PSW synagogues to help develop leadership and in turn help to perpetuate our movement.

I also represented you at a United Synagogue meeting where Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new Executive Vice President and CEO of United Synagogue, came to our Region to discuss their restructuring plan, reinforcing the idea of having the leaders of the different arms of our movement speak with a consistent and unified voice. Rabbi Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School, who attended the meeting, said, “A revitalized United Synagogue is essential to Conservative Judaism.”What is Women’s League doing to perpetuate our movement? Supporting Torah Fund is one way we help to ensure our future. I am very proud to say that once again, due to your generosity and commitment, we continue to be the number one fundraiser for Torah Fund in Women’s League! At a dinner for the Ziegler board, the Ziegler leadership and the newest class of 15 rabbinic students, I had a chance to meet and talk with some of our future clergy. What a wonderful, bright, intelligent and dynamic group! We discussed how these future rabbis can help by reaching out to younger women and encouraging them to be a part of Women’s League, while at the same time appreciating those who are already involved with our organization. We can be a resource to these future rabbis on the merit of our organization and work with them to create a stronger Women’s League, Men’s Club, United Synagogue and thereby a stronger movement. Pirkei Avot, says, “You are not required to complete the task, yet neither are you free to evade it”. I look forward to joining with all of you in beginning to work on this task to build a stronger Conservative/Masorti movement.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a happy, healthy and sweet new year from my family to yours.

Torah Fund’s Busy Summer

By Renee Ravich

Ordering, packing, delivering, shipping materials. Four area workshops and one phone conference “meeting”. Contacting speakers, creating flyers, labeling, stuffing and sorting 2500 invitations. It has been a very busy two months preparing our Sisterhood members for the 2009-10 Torah Fund Campaign and planning our Torah Fund Study Day. Over 80 women attended our workshops where we shared information and ideas.

None of this could be done without the help of many women. Thanks to all of you who put together the guides, picked up and delivered boxes, packed orders for Sisterhoods, mailed invitations for your and other Sisterhoods, and especially attended all the workshops. We are off to a wonderful start to our Campaign.

Membership Workshops

By Barbara Anik

Membership is off to a great start. Women's League has had two Los Angeles meetings ,each with very nice attendance where Torah Fund and Membership were discussed. San Diego and Orange County were also stops on our tour to meet and greet. This coming year I hope to have each sisterhood member reach out to ask one friend to come to an event this year. If each of us adds just one friend to Women's League, we can double our membership! Remember that every member is part of membership, and every event is a membership event! I hope to contact each sisterhood, but in the meantime feel free to contact me at anikfamily@aol.com or 818 222 7475 for questions or comments . I wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year.