Brooklyn Has a Team
It feels like January 2020 was more than a decade ago. Hadassah Brooklyn had just installed a new President, Merrie Melman, and under her leadership, the region board planned a full year’s worth of in-person meetings and events. Planning for the Women’s Seder co-sponsored by the region and the Park Slope Chapter was in full swing.
And then … well, we all know what happened. We had to postpone and then cancel the Women’s Seder and all other upcoming events. When it became clear that the COVID-19 shutdown would be long term, the region board met via Zoom to plan how to rescue the year and continue our work for Hadassah.
With the invaluable help of the Metro Geographic Area staff, especially Esther Lefkowitz, we planned and produced a number of Zoom programs: book and movie discussions; our annual June luncheon with a dramatic reading by Liz Fox and her husband of her parents’ letters to each other during World War II; a Zoom champagne brunch featuring Hadassah National President Rhoda Smolow and an amazing Hadassah doctor; the installation of our 2021 Officers and Board; entertainment by Enid and Jack Benezra and Rabbi Sam Levine at our Hanukkah celebration. We also produced our annual fundraising journal and continued to raise the resources Hadassah needs to fulfill its worldwide mission of healing our world.
Towards the end of the year, we learned that our President, Merrie Melman, could not continue with her term of office for personal reasons. We will miss her leadership and we thank her for her service. We know that we can count on her for her wisdom and advice in the future.
The three of us are proud to have been installed as Brooklyn Hadassah Region Co-coordinators for 2021. We are already working together with the board to plan a full year of meetings and special events — starting with the Women’s Seder which will be virtual this year. Our bulletin lists many events and opportunities to see each other virtually. Hopefully sometime soon, we’ll be able to see each other in person.
This year, as always, Brooklyn has a leadership team. We welcome your help. If you would like to join the region board, email one of us at aadams@hadassah.org, sfeldman@hadassah.org or egold@hadassah.org.
B’Shalom,
Adriane Adams, Shelli Feldman and Ethel Gold