Welcome to Sisterhood at Adas Israel Congregation!
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About Sisterhood... Click Here to Join!
Sisterhood, affiliated with Women's League for Conservative Judaism, seeks to perpetuate the values of Conservative/Masorti Judaism through quality programs, social action, ritual and spirituality. We provide multiple avenues for women to solidify their Jewish identity in a rapidly changing world. Most importantly, we are a community---providing mutual support and bonds of friendship for our members.
We are a Community of Sisterhood, joined by the bonds of friendship.
Please join us!
For more information email Vice President of Membership, Oz Papados.
Join us for Sisterhood Shabbat: February 20-22, 2025!
Register Here for Shabbat Dinner on Friday, February 21, 2025
Please join members of the Adas Israel Sisterhood for a welcoming and contemplative weekend as we lead the Weekday Minyan and Torah reading, on Thursday, February 20, a Shabbat evening service in Biran Beit Midrash on Friday, February 21, and the Shabbat morning service in the Smith Sanctuary on February 22 (Parshat Mishpatim).
The Friday evening service will be followed by a delicious, Mediterranean – themed Shabbat dinner to which all are invited. (Registration required via this link.)
Our theme for Sisterhood Shabbat this year is "Empowering Their Voices: Acknowledging Jewish Women's Wartime Trauma". This focus fits with Sisterhood’s overall theme of the year, which is “Treating Women (And All Persons) With Dignity”. Our Guest Scholar will be Daina Eglitis, associate professor of sociology and international affairs at GWU. Professor Eglitis will focus on sexual violence against Jewish survivors of the Shoah, even after Liberation. For our scholar, these are case studies of the suppression of women’s voices: Why are these crimes so little known? What impelled many women to keep silent? What enabled the perpetrators to get away with their crimes? And, when Jewish women needed help, who stepped forward? In addition to a family-friendly introduction on Shabbat morning, February 22, Professor Eglitis will deliver a talk and lead a discussion in the Biran Beit Midrash following Kiddush lunch.
As in past years, Sisterhood also invites everyone to participate in our Sisterhood Shabbat community service project to benefit the nearby nonprofit NW Community Food pantry.
Dr. Daina Eglitis is Associate Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She holds degrees in Political Science (BA, GWU), Russian & East European Studies (M.A., University of Michigan), and Sociology (Ph.D., University of Michigan). Dr. Eglitis is a two-time Fulbright Fellow in Latvia, and has been a research fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Dr. Eglitis is the author of Imagining the Nation: History, Modernity, and Revolution in Latvia and a co-editor of Central and East European Politics 5th edition, and has published articles and book chapters on collective memory, socioeconomic inequality, gender, and demographic issues in Central and East Europe. Her most recent work on World War II and the Holocaust appears in the Journal of Holocaust Research, Eastern European Holocaust Studies, Nationalities Papers, and Acta Sociologica. She has also written on mass violence in Russia’s war on Ukraine in New Eastern Europe and Transitions On Line.
As in past years, Sisterhood also invites everyone to participate in our Sisterhood Shabbat community service project to benefit the nearby nonprofit NW Community Food pantry. This year we will be collecting lip balm and full-size body lotion, bars of soap, and sanitary pads/pantyliners. Collection bins will be in the Adas coatroom February 20-March 2; outside the Beit Midrash February 20 and 21; and outside the Smith Sanctuary entrances on Shabbat morning, February 20.
As always, Sisterhood is grateful to congregant Donald Saltz, who generously underwrites Sisterhood Shabbat through the Mozelle Saltz Memorial Fund for Sisterhood Speakers, which he established in memory of his late wife Mozelle (z”l).
Ongoing Programs
Scroll down to view the full Calendar of Events for all ongoing programs.
Weekday Torah with Sisterhood
Monthly, third Tuesday, at 10:30 am via Zoom
Weekday Torah with Sisterhood is an engaging approach to traditional text study that offers participants the opportunity to study and discuss challenging texts and ideas. Students of all levels and backgrounds are welcome. Participants can find class dates, times, and other relevant information on the Sisterhood Calendar of Events. Please contact Marilyn Cooper with questions and concerns.
Knit and Crochet Social Action Group
The Sisterhood Knit and Crochet Social Action group invites all who knit and crochet to join us in making hats and scarves for those in need and baby hats for the layettes for the newest Adas members. Starting in January 2025, this group will be meeting the second Monday of each month from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. at Adas Israel. Mark your calendars: January 13, February 10, March 10, April (building closed) Location TBD, May 12, and June 9, 2025. There will be supplies (e.g., yarn, notions, needles) at these meetings. There are additional opportunities to meet as well.
Please contact Julie Hoffman at JulieAHF@aol.com for details.
Sisterhood Cares
To mark simchas and milestones and for condolences, contact Rachel Greenberg (rachel@rachelgreenberg.com).
Adas Israel Book Club
Rose Ruth Freudberg Memorial Sisterhood Library
Facilitated by Librarian Robin Jacobson, the Book Club meets periodically (in-person or via Zoom) to host authors and discuss books of Jewish interest. For further information, please contact Robin Jacobson.
If you would like to mark your calendar with the current schedule of book programs or access recordings of past programs please check the Library page.
Jewish Museum Virtual Tour
“The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt”
Thursday, March 20, at 12:00 pm via Zoom | Register here
Join us for an exciting virtual presentation by the Jewish Museum of New York, traveling back in time to 17th century Amsterdam. We will revel in art inspired by the Book of Esther, created by Rembrandt van Rijn and his contemporaries in the Dutch Golden Age. Our tour will explore why both Jewish immigrants to Amsterdam and Dutch Christians saw themselves in the Purim story. A fascinating fusion of history, art, and religion.
Torah Fund
As part of Women's League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ), Adas Israel Sisterhood raises dollars for Torah Fund, which supports five Conservative seminaries across the globe, educating clergy, cantors, scholars, and lay leaders: Jewish Theological Seminary (New York); Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies (Los Angeles); Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem); Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires); and Zacharias Frankel College (Potsdam, Germany).
The theme of the WLCJ 2024-25 Torah Fund Campaign is “Am Yisrael Chai: All People of Israel Live”. Am Yisrael Chai is an expression of Jewish solidarity for the Jewish nation and the continuity of the Jewish people. We help ensure the future of worldwide Jewish communities through our support of the five Conservative/Masorti institutions of higher education.
Together, our donations help provide housing, tuition scholarships, and university infrastructure for the next generation of Jewish leaders.
Individual donors to Torah Fund at the Benefactor level ($180) or higher receive the distinctive WLCJ Torah Fund pin in recognition of their gift.
You can make donations online at the "Donate" button below, or send a check payable to:
"Torah Fund"
c/o Susie Sorrells, Torah Fund Chair
4508 Sunflower Drive
Rockville, MD 20853
PLEASE NOTE: If you make an on-line donation, please insert Adas Israel and Washington, DC on the lines that ask for the name and location of your affiliate. Otherwise, our Sisterhood will not receive credit for the donation. If you make a donation at the Benefactor or Guardian level, please forward your receipt to susiejs23@gmail.com, so Susie can make arrangements to deliver your Torah Fund pin in a timely manner.
Help strengthen Jewish education and ensure the vibrancy of the Jewish people for decades to come with your gift to Torah Fund. Thank you!
Donations may not be charged to your Adas Israel account.
You can also send a greeting with e-cards to support Torah Fund. Cards can be purchased on the JTS Torah Fund website (click here), and customized for any occasion. The Torah Fund e-cards benefit the general campaign.
RUTH & SIMON ALBERT SISTERHOOD GIFT SHOP
Hanukkah has passed, and we're storing holiday items for next year, taking stock, and seeing how many new and popular items we need to order for 2025. We all had a bit of a well-deserved rest while the synagogue was closed, and we're looking forward to starting the new year refreshed. As of Friday, January 3, we will resume regular hours:
Sunday-Monday & Wednesday-Friday, 9:30 am-12:30 pm, and Tuesday, 9:30 am-3:00 pm.
Please note that we will be closed Sunday-Monday, January 19 & 20, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
We will try to arrange appointments at other times, if possible. Please email adasgiftshop@gmail.com, and we'll try to set up a time that's more convenient for you.
Ruth & Simon Albert Sisterhood Gift Shop
2850 Quebec Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
202-364-2888
adasgiftshop@gmail.com
Special Past Events
Rabbi Penina Alexander Elucidated Jewish Perspectives on Decluttering
Our program on Decluttering on Sunday, September 15, 2024 included a thoughtful, insightful and “from the heart” talk by Rabbi Penina Alexander, focused on Jewish perspectives on decluttering. We reproduce her talk below:
Jewish Connections to Decluttering by R. Penina Alexander
Sunday, September 15th | Click Here To Read Her Full Talk
Joyce Stern was the Honored Speaker for Sisterhood Shabbat 5784, February 15-17, 2024
Joyce Stern, an active member of Adas Israel Congregation for over 55 years and a longtime leader of Sisterhood Shabbat, was our honored speaker for 2024. With the theme “Building a Sanctuary Then and Now,” Joyce explored the Parashat Terumah with three stimulating presentations: Furnishing God’s Sanctuary (Thursday morning minyan February 15); Angels in the Mishkan (Friday night service February 16); and Inviting the Divine Presence into a Structure and into our Hearts (after Kiddush lunch February 17). The text of each presentation is found here.
Joyce has served on the governing board of Sisterhood for many years, taking on numerous roles. As Vice President for Communications (2011-2015), she created Sisterhood’s first ever e-newsletter, the Adas Israel Sisterhood Source. In 2013, Joyce was recognized with an Eishet Hayil award from the Seaboard Region of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and at Adas was a Simchat Torah honoree. Over the years, she has been on the synagogue’s bereavement and adult education committees, the Beit Midrash advisory group, and the Rabbinic Planning Task Force. She also served for six years as a member of the synagogue’s Board of Directors. Joyce and her late husband Michael were among the founding families of the Adas Israel Havurah where they held leadership roles and where they raised their children, Lisë and Avidan. Joyce notes that in addition to being blessed with six grandchildren, she is now happily a great grandmother.
The Way We Were and Here We Are
On Sunday November 19, 2023, Sisterhood presented a program that explored Sisterhood History with a “Campy” Show and Fun Gathering. Bringing comfort in the post-October 7 tension-filled time, we spent an afternoon in the warmth of the company of women. The event included a show presented by current Sisterhood members with songs and narratives created 40 years ago by Estelle Jacobs, a famously creative former Sisterhood President, and with new songs created by Estelle’s daughter, Susie Sorrells. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon sharing memories and meeting new friends in a community of sisterhood. A recording of the show is found here.
2023 Garden of the Righteous Honoree: José Ignacio Burbano, Grandfather of Past Sisterhood President Betty Adler. Click here for more information.
2024-25 Executive Committee
President: Margie Corwin
President-Elect: Nechama Masliansky
Co-VP for Communications: Wendy Kates
Co-VP for Communications: Tara Leystra Ackerman
Treasurer: Ellen Snyder
Co-VP for Education/Programming: Rona Walters
Co-VP for Education/Programming: Patricia Manasevit
VP for Membership: Ozana Papados
Parliamentarian: June Kress
Corresponding Secretary: Rachel Greenberg
Recording Secretary: Helen Kramer
Immediate Past President: Elissa Barpal
Gift Shop Co-Managers: Jean Bernard, Marian Fox, Susan Winberg
Torah Fund Chair: Susie Sorrells
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