cbl2017

The 14th Annual Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture

Tuesday, September 26th at Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel
561 Ward Street, Newton Centre, MA 02459

Join us to learn what Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn taught us about blessing our children on Erev Yom Kippur.

Below: Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, 1656.

Featuring Speaker Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik

This year’s keynote speaker brings the impact of the storied Soloveichik rabbinic line – merging tradition and history with modernity, science with Torah – profoundly felt throughout the Jewish world, most notably here in Boston where his great uncle, “the Rav,” Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, lived. Rabbi Dr. Soloveichik is now the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City, which was founded in 1654 as the first Jewish congregation in North America.

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Memorial Lecture

Click here to download the informational flyer (PDF)

About Connie Spear Birnbaum

As a professional and as a volunteer, Connie Spear Birnbaum worked tirelessly for an array of organizations within the Jewish community, always with the goal of advancing Ahavat Yisrael – the love of one Jew for the other – and a penchant for being in the right place at the right time. Upon her untimely passing from breast cancer at age 48, Connie became a symbol of Jewish unity and the inspiration for an annual event which would bring together Jews from across the width and breadth of Jewish life – from the religious to the secular, the right to the left, and everywhere in between. This popular and meaningful lecture was established in Connie’s memory and continues to be open to anyone who wishes to attend.

 

Tribute Committee

Rabbi Susan Abramson
Rabbi Dan Berman
Joyce and Michael Bohnen
Dr. Robert Braitman
Rabbi Ariel Burger
Rabbi Reuven Cohn
Anita Diamant
Aaron Feuerstein
Cantor Aryeh Finkelstein
Rabbi Ronne Friedman
Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz
Hazzan Sara Geffen Geller
Rabbi Mark Gottlieb
Professor Lewis Glinert
Rabbi Leonard Gordon
Barbara and Steve Grossman
Rabbi Eric Gurvis
Rabbi William Hamilton
Dr. Jesse and Brenda Hefter
Councillor Tito Jackson
Professor David C. Jacobson and Shelley Greene
Dr. Josh and Ronda Jacobson
Jeff Jacoby
Bernice “Sis” Kazis
Rabbi Reuven Kimelman
Cantor Jeff Klepper
Professor Jay Berkovitz and Sharon Levinson
Matthew Lazar
Rabbi Daniel Liben
Cantor Rikki Lippitz
Rabbi Abraham Morhaim
Daniel Nesson
Cantor Charles Osborne
Rabbi Barbara Penzner
Rabbi Daniel Pernick
Dr. Nehemia Polen
Rabbi Jonah Pritzker
Sharon Pucker Rivo
Rabbi Michelle Robinson
Rabbi Roy Rosenbaum
Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Cantor Benji Ellen Schiller
Rabbi Geshon Segal
Gerald and Erica Silverman
Horace Small
Rav/Hazan Scott Sokol
Rabbi Mendy Uminer
Rabbi Moshe Waldoks
Rabbi Norbert Weinberg
Rabbi David Wolfman
Howard Worona
Rabbi Henry Zoob

Sponsoring Synagogues

Adams Street Shul of Newton
Ahavath Torah Congregation of Stoughton
Beit Sasson: The Sephardic Congregation of Newton
Chabad of Chestnut Hill
Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel
Congregation Beth Israel of Worcester
Congregation Kehillath Israel of Brookline
Congregation Mishkan Tefila
Congregation Shaarei Tefillah of Newton
Congregation Shirat Hayam of the North Shore
Maimonides Kehillah
Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue of Jamaica Plain
Newton Centre Minyan
Temple Aliyah of Needham
Temple Beth Avodah of Newton
Temple Beth Elohim of Wellesley
Temple Beth David of Westwood
Temple Hillel-Bnai Torah of West Roxbury
Temple Beth Emunah of Brockton
Temple Beth Shalom of Needham
Temple Beth Zion of Brookline
Temple Emanuel of Newton
Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley
Temple Emunah of Lexington
Temple Etz Chaim of Franklin
Temple Isaiah of Lexington
Temple Israel of Boston
Temple Israel of Natick
Temple Israel of Sharon
Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline
Temple Reyim of Newton
Temple Shaare Tefilah of Norwood
Temple Shalom Emeth of Burlington
Temple Shalom of Newton
Young Israel of Brookline
Young Israel of Sharon

Sponsoring Organizations

Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity
Center Makor
Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Consulate General of Israel to New England
Eim Chai
Facing History & Ourselves
Gann Academy
Hadassah
Hebrew College
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
JCC of Greater Boston
Jewish Arts Collaborative
Jewish Cemetery Association of MA
Jewish Federation of Central MA
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Jewish Women’s Archive
LimmudBoston
Massachusetts Board of Rabbis
National Council of Jewish Women
Rofeh International
Synagogue Council of Massachusetts
The David Project
Union for Reform Judaism-East District
Union of Minority Neighborhoods
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism-Northeast District
Women’s Studies Research Center- Brandeis University