The Jewish Museum Milwaukee exhibit “Stitching History from the Holocaust” opened in mid-September and ran through February. It featured dresses designed by Holocaust victim Hedwig Strnad and made by the costume department of the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. The exhibit attracted national attention, including a Sept. 27 article in The New York Times.
Rabbi Nisan Andrews in September became spiritual leader of Lake Park Synagogue, arriving in time to lead the High Holidays services. He was born and raised in Canada; his wife, Hannah Abrams Andrews, was born in Milwaukee.
Marc Lasry, successful private equity investor and hedge fund manager and one of the new owners of the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team, was the featured speaker at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Economic Forum on Oct. 28. About 650 people attended.
A brief controversy arose over whether Nicolet High School should prohibit the building of a sukkah for Jewish students on its grounds. The school did so, and a substitute sukkah was built at a private home.
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation focused efforts on Milwaukee Jewry-Israel relations in response to survey data showing U.S. Jews becoming increasingly alienated from Israel.
Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid collaborated with Tabernacle Community Baptist Church in a concert titled “Go Down, Moses: Songs of Freedom and Kinship” on Nov. 2. More than 900 people are estimated to have attended.
Milwaukee Jewish Federation president and CEO Hannah Rosenthal participated in the 10th anniversary Conference on Anti-Semitism of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe in Berlin, German, Nov. 12-13. She reported in the December Chronicle that “European Jews are feeling more vulnerable, more afraid for their safety; and are looking into leaving for the U.S., Canada or Israel.”
About 60 people attended the first Milwaukee participation in the Global Day of Jewish Learning on Nov. 16 at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
The Jewish Federation of Madison on Nov. 16 presented its first Andrea J. Stein Jewish Community Professional Award to Faygie Matusof for her work as Chabad Lubavitch emissary.
“Unity Psalms” were recited by members of Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah, Congregation Beth Yehuda and Yeshivas Ohr Yechezkel Wisconsin Institute of Torah Study on Nov. 19 at WITS. The gathering was held in response to a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Israel, in which four worshippers — including a distant relative of the Milwaukee Twerskis — were killed.
Five Israelis — three “medical clowns,” a social worker and a physician — spoke about Israel medical clown program at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on Nov. 19 and in Madison on Nov. 20.
Rabbi Ronald Shapiro, then senior rabbi of Congregation Shalom, received the Frank Zeidler Award from the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee on Dec. 4.
The new Milwaukee chapter of the controversial organization Jewish Voice for Peace held its first event on Dec. 7 at Marquette University.
The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle published the first of a redesigned issue on Jan. 1. The changes are intended not just to affect the external look of the publication, but also a new approach to its contents.
Gerrald “Jerry” Silverman, president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federations of North America, visited Milwaukee in early February.
Milwaukee Jewish Federation president and CEO Hannah Rosenthal participated in a Jewish Federations of North America emergency mission to France Feb. 7-10. She reported that despite recent and violent anti-Semitic incidents, most French believe their future is in France and do not want to leave.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation found a “dramatic rise” of more than 150 percent in Milwaukee-area anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, according to its newest annual audit of such incidents, released on Feb. 12.
On Feb. 14, a wave of vandalisms and defacements, some of them anti-Semitic, occurred on Madison’s far west side.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation co-sponsored Milwaukee’s International Women’s Day held March 8 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
On March 15, the Jewish Museum Milwaukee opened a new exhibit titled “Founders & Visionaries: Wisconsin Jewish Artists from the Milwaukee Art Museum.” The exhibit ran through May 31.
On March 16, nationally recognized journalist and U.S. Supreme Court watcher Dahlia Lithwick spoke at Congregation Shalom. Her appearance was the first in a revived lecture series sponsored by the Edie Adelman Political Awareness Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and was co-sponsored by the MJF’s Women’s Philanthropy organization.
The Conney Project on Jewish Arts, which has been held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison previously, moved this year for the first time to the University of Southern California in a collaboration between the two schools. The event was held March 24-26.
Congregation Shalom announced that it hired a new assistant rabbi, Rabbi Rachel Kaplan Marks.
Prof. Jesus Jambrina of Viterbo University in La Crosse received the Medal of the Four Sephardi Synagogues for his research into, and help with preserving, the medieval Jewish section of the city of Zamora in Spain. He received the award on March 25 from Dr. Abraham Haim, president of the Council of Sephardi and Oriental Communities in Jerusalem, Israel.
Jewish Family Services of Milwaukee announced that its president and CEO, Sylvan Leabman, will be retiring on Dec. 31.
The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle published an interview with Simone Schweber, who in the past summer became director of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On April 12, an “Interfaith Immigrant Seder” was held the day after the last day of Passover at Congregation Sinai. It was held in partnership with the New Sanctuary Movement of Voces de la Frontera, Miklat: A Jewish Response to Displacement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
On April 20-27, nine Israeli young leaders from the Sovev Kinneret region of Israel and one staff member from the Partnership2Gether program visited Wisconsin. The nine were participants in the Shay Shoshany Young Leadership Development Program in the region.
On April 21, Father Patrick Desbois, founder and president of Yahad-In Unum, spoke at Marquette University about his work uncovering sites where the German Nazis and their collaborators shot Jews, Roma and others during World War II.
Congregation Sinai received a 2015 Irving J. Fain Social Action Award at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Consultation on Conscience, held in Washington, D.C., April 26-28.
On April 27, the student senate at Marquette University turned an anti-Israel boycott-divestment-sanctions resolution sponsored by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter into a general call for “socially responsible investing.” Members of MU’s Jewish Student Union helped to transform this resolution.
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation revised its “Jewish Community Study of Greater Milwaukee 2011” after discovering that the numbers provided by the survey’s methods had not been processed properly. The revised study showed that the total number of Jews in the Milwaukee area is 25,800 instead of the 30,000 stated in the initial study.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visited Israel May 8-14. His trip was paid for by the Republican Jewish Coalition and Our American Revival.
May 10 marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the organization that became today’s Jewish Federation of Madison. The Wisconsin Senate issued a proclamation in recognition of the anniversary. The JFM will hold a celebration event in October. See story in the magazine section of this issue.
The Shul in Bayside dedicated a new Torah scroll on May 31. Part of Brown Deer Road was blocked off for the outdoor procession.
On June 4, the Milwaukee Jewish Artists Laboratory opened its new exhibit on “Living Waters” at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
On June 5-7, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and members of the Milwaukee Jewish community participated in Pridefest by walking in the parade and by sponsoring a booth with information about the Milwaukee Jewish community.
On June 7, the recently formed art committee of the Jewish Home and Care Center revealed its first project in the Rubenstein Pavilion, a photo mosaic presenting “A Visual History of the Jewish Home and Care Center, Chai Point Senior Living and Sarah Chudnow Community.”
The Jewish Museum Milwaukee opened a new exhibit on June 14, titled “Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American.”
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation presented its first Robert H. Friebert Social Justice Award to Milwaukee civil rights attorney James H. Hall, Jr., at its annual meeting on June 18.
The Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation celebrated the first year of its participation in a two-year Create a Jewish Legacy program on June 24. Mark Brickman, former JCF chair, received the 2015 Legacy Leadership Award. The JCF announced that the local effort has surpassed expectations in numbers of participants and amount committed.
A forum on poverty in Wisconsin was held on June 25 at Lake Park Synagogue. It was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee, and was part of a state-wide effort launched and organized by WISDOM, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families and the Citizen Action Educational Fund.
On June 28, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim welcomed the Madison Jewish community’s first Torah scroll written by a female scribe.
Steven Baruch, Ph.D., retired from 15 years of service as executive director of the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Kathie Bernstein retired from her position as director of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, a position she held since the museum opened in 2008. She is succeeded by Patti Sherman-Cisler.
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation announced that it is projected to raise $5.8 million in its annual campaign, up by more than $150,000 from last year and an increase for the first time in five years.
Rabbi Noah Chertkoff became senior rabbi of Congregation Shalom on July 1.
Cantor Deborah Martin was hired as spiritual leader of Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha. She follows Rabbi Steven Adams, who became director of pastoral care at the Jewish Home and Care Center, Chai Point Senior Living and the Sarah Chudnow Community.
Bonnie Shafrin on July 1 became the new director of the Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at the Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology. She is former director of the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
On July 6, the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that it received 12 rare cylinder recordings of Yiddish music from about 1901 from the Chicago-based Tohmas Lambert Company. They are thought to be the oldest surviving Yiddish music recordings ever made.
On July 7, the Teen Mifgash (Encounter) program involving Wisconsin Jewish kids and kids from Israel’s Sovev Kinneret region that had been taking place in Milwaukee and Madison had an unexpected addition to its plans. It was joined by a group of Israeli Arab teens from the Mar Elias High School, located in the village of Ibillin near Haifa.
On July 29, Elad Strohmayer, deputy consul general from Israel to the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, gave a talk entitled “Confessions of a Gay Israeli Diplomat” in Milwaukee. His appearance was sponsored by MilwaukeeChaverim, the LGBTQ outreach and inclusion initiative of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and the MJF’s Israel Center. See story in this issue.
The Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center of Milwaukee organized and hosted one of the 2015 JCC Maccabi Games Aug. 2-7. About 1,000 teen athletes from the U.S. and Israel plus Canada, Mexico and Poland participated, as did hundreds of coaches and volunteers. The games also took place in Dallas, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. See photographs in this issue.
A mission organized by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation to Poland is scheduled to take place Aug. 31-Sept. 7. Plans include visiting Poland’s redeveloping Jewish community and the dedication of SHOFAR KRAKOW, a sculpture by Milwaukee Richard Edelman at the Syngoga Tempel in Krakow.
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