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TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
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CONTENTS President's Letter Holocaust Remembrance Day Community Archive Update Documentary Available Upcoming Grant Application Holocaust Museum Changes On Our Bookshelf YIDSTOCK In Memoriam Our Annual Appeal LEADERSHIP Norm Berman, President Paula Rosenberg Bell, Pres Emerita Joel Rosenberg, Pres Emeritus Evert Gawendo, Vice President Rosa Goldblatt, Treasurer Sheri Abrams, Secretary Dora Glinn, Exec Committee Leah Abrams, Exec Committee Alicia Pion, Exec Committee Rachel Berman Eric Blumenthal Jeffrey Blumenthal Martin Drobiarz Richard Dvorin Elsie Fetterman Jacob Gawendo Michael Gawendo Matthew Goldblatt Rachel Goldblatt Vita Fetterman Goldstein Martin Israelit Henry Mondschein Bailey Rosenberg Nascimento Alan Turner Heather Drobiarz Waters Sherry Wiener ADVISORS Judy Engel David Fetterman Jack Hodys Rachel Sheppard Rubin James Weiss |
President's Letter - Norm BermanIt was a joy to gather once again for our Community Seder (14th annual) and to see the hall filled with both familiar faces and new friends. The spirit in the room—warm, engaged, and deeply communal—reminded me of why this tradition continues to matter so much.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone whose dedication and hard work made the afternoon possible. Their efforts brought both beauty and meaning to the experience. Special thanks to Sheri, Dora, Paula, Jack and Sari. We were especially honored to welcome our dear friends from neighboring churches—partners in fellowship and community—Yana Cruz Pagan, Zach LaCrone, Barbara Schrier, Father Andrew and Earl McWilliams, along with members of our own extended family, who we haven’t seen in a long time - Larry Lew and Morris Seigal. Our good friends, Arthur and Gloria Fox from Lexington MA joined us – Arthur helped lead the singing and Gloria provided welcome help in the kitchen. Together, we sang, we read, we told the story—and we asked the questions. And everyone participated with passion and purpose. We also raised several hundred dollars to support the Friends of Assisi Food Pantry in Danielson. 
Moments like this affirm for me that what we are doing through the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society truly matters. It is meaningful work, rooted in memory, community, and shared values—and it makes me proud.
Norman Berman, President Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): Honoring Memory, Renewing Commitment
Holocaust Remembrance Day—Yom HaShoah—begins at sundown on Monday, April 13, 2026, and continues through nightfall on Tuesday, April 14. It is a time set aside to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and to honor the courage and resilience of those who survived.
For the Temple Beth Israel community, this day carries profound significance. Many of our founding families were survivors-- |
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individuals who, after enduring unimaginable loss, rebuilt their lives here in northeastern Connecticut. At the same time, so many of their loved ones—our extended family—were among those who perished.
Through our Holocaust education programming, including presentations in local middle and high schools, we remain committed to preserving these stories and sharing their lessons with the next generation. |
This work is not only an act of remembrance, but a call to responsibility—to stand against hatred, indifference, and injustice wherever they appear.
We encourage you to mark Yom HaShoah in a way that is meaningful to you: attend a local remembrance observance, watch a film, or read a book that engages with this history.
This dark chapter in our history must never be forgotten—nor the enduring impact it has had on our families and our community.
May their memories be a blessing—and may their stories continue to inspire and guide us.
We encourage you to mark Yom HaShoah in a way that is meaningful to you: attend a local remembrance observance, watch a film, or read a book that engages with this history.
This dark chapter in our history must never be forgotten—nor the enduring impact it has had on our families and our community.
May their memories be a blessing—and may their stories continue to inspire and guide us.
Community Archive Update
We continue to record interviews with descendants of our founders and our Archive content continues to grow. Thank you to folks who have sent us photos. If you haven’t, please do so.
Documentary Available on Our Website
A House Built by Hope: A Story of Compassion, Resilience, and Religious Freedom is a 35-minute documentary, that tells the story of the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society and the families who built our historic synagogue in Danielson, Connecticut.
The film features the voices of founders and their children, recounting experiences of persecution, survival, and resistance during World War II. Many of these families endured concentration camps or fought as partisans before immigrating to the United States.
With support from organizations such as the Jewish Agricultural Society, approximately 50 Jewish families resettled in northeastern Connecticut, establishing farms and rebuilding their lives. The film highlights not only their resilience, but also the remarkable support they received from the surrounding Christian community, whose generosity helped make their new beginnings possible.
The documentary was envisioned by founding board member, Elsie Fetterman, and produced by Amherst Media. It was funded in part through grants from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with an accompanying educational curriculum developed for classroom use.
Go to our website to enjoy the film.
The film features the voices of founders and their children, recounting experiences of persecution, survival, and resistance during World War II. Many of these families endured concentration camps or fought as partisans before immigrating to the United States.
With support from organizations such as the Jewish Agricultural Society, approximately 50 Jewish families resettled in northeastern Connecticut, establishing farms and rebuilding their lives. The film highlights not only their resilience, but also the remarkable support they received from the surrounding Christian community, whose generosity helped make their new beginnings possible.
The documentary was envisioned by founding board member, Elsie Fetterman, and produced by Amherst Media. It was funded in part through grants from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with an accompanying educational curriculum developed for classroom use.
Go to our website to enjoy the film.
Strengthening Security at Temple Beth Israel:
Upcoming Grant Application
The Preservation Society is preparing to submit an application to the State of Connecticut Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection for funding through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (CT-NSGP).
This competitive, state-funded program provides reimbursement to nonprofit organizations for security infrastructure improvements designed to better protect their facilities and the communities they serve. For TBIPS, this represents an important opportunity to build on the safety measures we have already put in place and to address several key areas of need.
Our application will focus on a series of targeted upgrades, including the replacement of the Community Hall doors and the Archive Room door, the installation of a protective enclosure around the propane tank, and improvements to connectivity for our intrusion alarm and camera systems. Together, these enhancements will strengthen the overall security of the building while supporting our ability to safely host programs, preserve our growing Community Archive, and welcome visitors from across the region.
As stewards of a historic building that serves not only as a place of memory, but also as an active center for interfaith and cultural engagement, we take seriously our responsibility to ensure a safe and secure environment for all who enter our doors.
We look forward to sharing updates as the application process moves forward. We also continue to look for other grant opportunities to support our building, organization and programs. If you are aware of any, please let us know.
This competitive, state-funded program provides reimbursement to nonprofit organizations for security infrastructure improvements designed to better protect their facilities and the communities they serve. For TBIPS, this represents an important opportunity to build on the safety measures we have already put in place and to address several key areas of need.
Our application will focus on a series of targeted upgrades, including the replacement of the Community Hall doors and the Archive Room door, the installation of a protective enclosure around the propane tank, and improvements to connectivity for our intrusion alarm and camera systems. Together, these enhancements will strengthen the overall security of the building while supporting our ability to safely host programs, preserve our growing Community Archive, and welcome visitors from across the region.
As stewards of a historic building that serves not only as a place of memory, but also as an active center for interfaith and cultural engagement, we take seriously our responsibility to ensure a safe and secure environment for all who enter our doors.
We look forward to sharing updates as the application process moves forward. We also continue to look for other grant opportunities to support our building, organization and programs. If you are aware of any, please let us know.
Holocaust Museum Changes Raise Concerns About Rewriting History
In the first year of Donald Trump’s second term, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly removed key educational materials from its website and canceled a civic workshop on the “fragility of democracy.”
These actions did not occur in isolation. They align with a broader federal effort to strip public institutions of content that invites critical examination of American history—particularly around racism, democracy, and the abuse of power. Across agencies and cultural institutions, materials connected to diversity, equity, and inclusion have been removed or reshaped to present a more sanitized national narrative.
At the museum, a teaching resource drawing connections between Nazi ideology and American racial laws was taken down, and a workshop explicitly focused on democratic vulnerability was renamed and ultimately canceled. Yet historians have long documented that the Nuremberg Laws were, in part, influenced by American Jim Crow laws—a difficult but essential truth that underscores how systems of injustice can echo across borders.
While museum officials deny any external pressure, former staff members suggest these moves reflect a climate in which institutions feel compelled to avoid topics that might invite political backlash.
The implications are profound. Holocaust education has always carried a dual responsibility: to remember the past and to illuminate the dangers of the present. When institutions begin narrowing that lens—removing difficult comparisons or softening language about democratic fragility—they risk turning history into something safer, but also less truthful.
For communities like ours, whose founders lived through the consequences of silence, distortion, and indifference, this moment is deeply unsettling. The lessons of the Holocaust are not confined to Europe between 1933 and 1945. They challenge us to confront injustice wherever it appears—even within our own society.
At the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society, our Lessons of the Holocaust curriculum remains fully intact. We will continue to teach these connections clearly and responsibly—drawing the line between American racism and nationalism and the conditions that gave rise to Hitler’s Germany—because understanding those links is essential to preserving both historical truth and democratic values.
To step back from that responsibility is not simply a change in programming. It is part of a larger and more troubling effort to reshape how history is told—less as a warning, and more as a story that avoids uncomfortable truths.
These actions did not occur in isolation. They align with a broader federal effort to strip public institutions of content that invites critical examination of American history—particularly around racism, democracy, and the abuse of power. Across agencies and cultural institutions, materials connected to diversity, equity, and inclusion have been removed or reshaped to present a more sanitized national narrative.
At the museum, a teaching resource drawing connections between Nazi ideology and American racial laws was taken down, and a workshop explicitly focused on democratic vulnerability was renamed and ultimately canceled. Yet historians have long documented that the Nuremberg Laws were, in part, influenced by American Jim Crow laws—a difficult but essential truth that underscores how systems of injustice can echo across borders.
While museum officials deny any external pressure, former staff members suggest these moves reflect a climate in which institutions feel compelled to avoid topics that might invite political backlash.
The implications are profound. Holocaust education has always carried a dual responsibility: to remember the past and to illuminate the dangers of the present. When institutions begin narrowing that lens—removing difficult comparisons or softening language about democratic fragility—they risk turning history into something safer, but also less truthful.
For communities like ours, whose founders lived through the consequences of silence, distortion, and indifference, this moment is deeply unsettling. The lessons of the Holocaust are not confined to Europe between 1933 and 1945. They challenge us to confront injustice wherever it appears—even within our own society.
At the Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society, our Lessons of the Holocaust curriculum remains fully intact. We will continue to teach these connections clearly and responsibly—drawing the line between American racism and nationalism and the conditions that gave rise to Hitler’s Germany—because understanding those links is essential to preserving both historical truth and democratic values.
To step back from that responsibility is not simply a change in programming. It is part of a larger and more troubling effort to reshape how history is told—less as a warning, and more as a story that avoids uncomfortable truths.
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On Our Bookshelf:
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“Fate,” as she describes it, is ever-present: the split-second decisions, the chance encounters, the narrow escapes. Yet just as central are the “good people”—those who, at great personal risk, chose decency over indifference, courage over fear. Their actions illuminate a truth we return to again and again: even in the darkest times, human choices matter.
Zektzer writes with a directness that makes her experiences all the more powerful. There is no embellishment, no distancing—only the steady unfolding of events as they were lived. The effect is intimate and immediate. We are drawn into her world, made to feel the uncertainty, the fear, and, ultimately, the resilience that carried her forward.
For those of us connected to the Preservation Society, the themes of this memoir are deeply familiar. So many of our founding families carried similar stories—of loss, endurance, and rebuilding. In our ongoing Community Archive work, we encounter again and again the same pattern Zektzer describes: survival not as a solitary act, but as a convergence of strength, circumstance, and the unexpected kindness of others.
This book is also a quiet call to responsibility. It asks us not only to remember, but to consider what it means to be among the “good people” in our own time. What choices do we make when faced with injustice? How do we respond when others are at risk? These are not abstract questions—they are the enduring legacy of stories like Zektzer’s.
Fate and Good People Kept Us Alive is more than a memoir; it is a testament. Lovingly edited and published by the Zektzer’s daughter, Paula Portner, this work preserves voices that might otherwise be lost, and in doing so, strengthens our collective memory. We encourage all members of our community to read it, reflect on it, and share it—continuing the essential work of remembrance and education that defines who we are.
Zektzer writes with a directness that makes her experiences all the more powerful. There is no embellishment, no distancing—only the steady unfolding of events as they were lived. The effect is intimate and immediate. We are drawn into her world, made to feel the uncertainty, the fear, and, ultimately, the resilience that carried her forward.
For those of us connected to the Preservation Society, the themes of this memoir are deeply familiar. So many of our founding families carried similar stories—of loss, endurance, and rebuilding. In our ongoing Community Archive work, we encounter again and again the same pattern Zektzer describes: survival not as a solitary act, but as a convergence of strength, circumstance, and the unexpected kindness of others.
This book is also a quiet call to responsibility. It asks us not only to remember, but to consider what it means to be among the “good people” in our own time. What choices do we make when faced with injustice? How do we respond when others are at risk? These are not abstract questions—they are the enduring legacy of stories like Zektzer’s.
Fate and Good People Kept Us Alive is more than a memoir; it is a testament. Lovingly edited and published by the Zektzer’s daughter, Paula Portner, this work preserves voices that might otherwise be lost, and in doing so, strengthens our collective memory. We encourage all members of our community to read it, reflect on it, and share it—continuing the essential work of remembrance and education that defines who we are.
On Our Bookshelf: From Chicken Farms to Community: A Shared Story
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In Comrades and Chicken Ranchers, historian Kenneth Kann chronicles the lives of Jewish immigrants who left behind urban neighborhoods and political activism to become chicken farmers in early 20th-century America. Centered on communities in Northern California—especially Petaluma—the book explores how these families built cooperative farming networks, sustained ties to labor and socialist ideals, and created institutions that supported both their economic survival and cultural identity. Chicken ranching, Kann shows, became a pathway to independence, dignity, and belonging.
Though Kann’s focus is regional, his story resonates strongly here in northeastern Connecticut. |
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Many of Temple Beth Israel’s founding families—particularly the Holocaust survivors—followed a similar path from war, displacement, and loss to the demanding work of poultry and dairy farming and the building of new lives in a foreign land.
As our Community Archive project continues, we are preserving these local histories—stories of courage, resilience, and renewal that gave rise to the Temple itself. Kann’s work helps place our experience in a broader American context, reminding us that the chicken farms of Danielson and Killingly were not isolated chapters, but part of a larger story of rebuilding lives and creating community against the odds.
As our Community Archive project continues, we are preserving these local histories—stories of courage, resilience, and renewal that gave rise to the Temple itself. Kann’s work helps place our experience in a broader American context, reminding us that the chicken farms of Danielson and Killingly were not isolated chapters, but part of a larger story of rebuilding lives and creating community against the odds.
YIDSTOCK: A Living Link to Our Yiddish Past
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Each summer, YIDSTOCK transforms the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst into a vibrant celebration of Yiddish music and culture—bringing together some of the finest Yiddish musicians from around the world for a multi-day festival unlike any other.
Yiddish is more than a language—it is a bridge to a world that still lives within us. It carries the rhythms of everyday life, the warmth of family, and the voice of a people shaped by resilience, humor, and hope. For our community, it is a living thread connecting us to our founders, who brought Yiddish with them across oceans and used it to build new lives while preserving what mattered most. The great scholar Max Weinreich once explained his devotion to Yiddish simply: “Because Yiddish has magic—it will outwit history.” That truth continues to reveal itself—in our songs, our stories, and in gatherings that bring this heritage to life. |
For those connected to Temple Beth Israel, it resonates deeply. In our early decades, Yiddish filled our homes and our building—spoken in conversation and carried in song, echoing through the sanctuary and social hall.
YIDSTOCK offers a chance to reconnect with that world—through concerts, workshops, and shared experience—and to see how this tradition continues to inspire new generations. A visit also includes the Book Center’s permanent exhibition, Yiddish: A Global Culture, tracing the language’s enduring vitality across time and place.
For many, YIDSTOCK has become a highlight of the summer—a joyful return to a heritage that still speaks to us. Norm Berman and Sheri Abrams plan to attend, joined by Leah Abrams and Jason Abbate. It is, quite simply, a trip worth making. Join us!
YIDSTOCK offers a chance to reconnect with that world—through concerts, workshops, and shared experience—and to see how this tradition continues to inspire new generations. A visit also includes the Book Center’s permanent exhibition, Yiddish: A Global Culture, tracing the language’s enduring vitality across time and place.
For many, YIDSTOCK has become a highlight of the summer—a joyful return to a heritage that still speaks to us. Norm Berman and Sheri Abrams plan to attend, joined by Leah Abrams and Jason Abbate. It is, quite simply, a trip worth making. Join us!
Yahrzeits
We remember these members of the TBI family who died in this season:
Barney Kivel, Besse Rosenberg, Morris Zektzer, Hyman Pastman, Simon Katzoff, Hyman Peskoff, Bessie Cantor, Rebeka Baila Blumenthal, Ann Mondschein, William Dinerstein, Hanka Mondschein, Walter Schmidt, Lub Schulman, William Kopely, Isidore Levine, Lawrence Sobol and Robert Greenman.
May their memories be a blessing!
Visit our donations page to make a donation in memoriam.
Barney Kivel, Besse Rosenberg, Morris Zektzer, Hyman Pastman, Simon Katzoff, Hyman Peskoff, Bessie Cantor, Rebeka Baila Blumenthal, Ann Mondschein, William Dinerstein, Hanka Mondschein, Walter Schmidt, Lub Schulman, William Kopely, Isidore Levine, Lawrence Sobol and Robert Greenman.
May their memories be a blessing!
Visit our donations page to make a donation in memoriam.
Our Annual Appeal
We have launched our Annual Appeal for 2026. Maintaining our historic building, keeping it insured and heated, and sustaining the programs that bring our community together all require ongoing support.
Temple Beth Israel has always depended on the generosity of its friends and supporters. Your contributions make it possible for us to preserve this special place and continue the educational, cultural, and community programs that keep its spirit alive.
We hope you will consider making a contribution. Your support truly makes all the difference.
Temple Beth Israel has always depended on the generosity of its friends and supporters. Your contributions make it possible for us to preserve this special place and continue the educational, cultural, and community programs that keep its spirit alive.
We hope you will consider making a contribution. Your support truly makes all the difference.