Cantor Leon on Judaism & the Environment
Listen to Cantor Leon on BBC radio, talking about Jewish attitudes towards the environment: the theme of our recent High Holy Day services; click here!
Beth Israel Membership for 5785: Renew! Apply!
Enquiring minds want to know: Where is my Membership Renewal Letter? How much are my Dues? Membership renewal notices will go out via email presently. To APPLY for or RENEW your membership for the 2024-25 year, please complete the complete this form. If renewing and none of your information has changed and you just want to send in your dues, please see the membership dues form and remit payment by Thursday, October 31st to remain a member in good standing. Information on how to pay is conveniently included via all of the links above.
Thank you for being part of Beth Israel Congregation!
Mark’s Rosh HaShana Message+
BIC Board President Mark Seigel shared his outgoing Rosh HaShanah address to the community, focused on inclusion and the ‘Big Tent’ approach he has championed during his tenure. Click here for the full content. Mark also highly recommends Meet Robert; Meet Jessica: The Challenge of Jewish Diversity During Difficult Times, a Rosh Hashanah sermon by Rabbi Mark Glickman of Calgary’s temple b’nei tikvah.
The Beth Israel Board of Directors Nominating Committee is now accepting applications from interested congregants to join the 2025-26 Board of Directors.
If interested, please read the information below. Applications will be accepted until 5pm on Tuesday, June 10th, 2025
OUR COMMITMENT
At BIC we believe that a Board of Directors reflects the diversity of our community which strengthens our ability to achieve our mission.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BIC’s Board meets 9-10 times per year and currently has four standing committees – Governance and Finance, membership and events – that also meet monthly. The board convenes the Annual General Meeting in June and takes a break in July and August.
Board meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month for about 2.5 hours both in person or virtually.
DIRECTORS RESPONSIBILITIES
Directors are expected to serve on one of BICs standing committees and contribute to ad hoc committees that are formed on an as-needed basis from time to time. They are also expected to contribute to BIC’s fundraising initiatives and draw upon their networks in support of the organization’s work.
The total average monthly time commitment is 8 – 15 hours, depending on a Director’s position.
DIRECTORS SKILL SETS REQUESTED
This year we need directors who have experience in the following areas:
property maintenance, governance, grant writing or strategic planning.
If you believe in our vision and mission and want to play a part in deciding on the direction of our growing congregation, we want to hear from you.
Mission: The purpose of Beth Israel Congregation is to serve the spiritual and cultural needs of the Jewish population of Peterborough and its environs. We provide a place of worship open to all those who subscribe to the Jewish faith, and a meeting place for expression of Jewish cultural life.
Beth Israel is egalitarian, motivated by a spectrum of community interests and spiritual aspirations. We are welcoming of all genders, cultures, races, abilities, neurotypes, sexual orientations, political beliefs, faiths, and income levels. We recognize that we have a responsibility to work proactively to make this a place of welcome to those who are traditionally marginalized. We are committed to treating all participants with respect and compassion.
Vision: To be an accessible, innovative, inclusive, open and integral part of the Peterborough Jewish Community.
- All candidates must voting members in good standing of Beth Israel Congregation.
- Deadline for Submissions is Tuesday, June 10th, 2025
- If interested, please email a letter telling us why you’d like to join the Board, along with the skills and experience you would bring to the Board to bethisrael@jccpeterborough.com which will then be forwarded to the Nomination Committee Chair.
Yom HaShoah Events
Learning about the Holocaust and Its Meaning Today
Below are a set of links to Yom HaShoah events of note for our local community.
Online participation is possible.
Click on the links below to reach the event or learning materials.
- Toronto Holocaust Museum: Commemoration of the Holocaust
- Yad Vashem: Remembrance Day
- Yad Vashem: A Lost World: The Destruction of Jewish Communities (A Central Theme for Holocaust Remembrance Day)
- B’Nai Brith: Yom HaShoah Commemorative Gathering in Ottawa.
- Echoes and Reflections: a free 4-week course offering: Foundations of Holocaust Education: Deepening Student Learning, May 2024.
- TOLI: Days of Remembrance: The Kindertransport
- A collection of 12 poems of remembrance from the Congregation Beth Israel (Vancouver): Yom HaShoah poems.
A Yizkor Poem by Peterborough’s Poet Laureate: Ziysah v. Bieberstein
Yizkor: Our Commitment to Remember
6 million worlds extinguished.
6 million pairs of hands that could no longer be held
6 million lifetimes of stories that could no longer be told
We cannot undo these horrors
What we can do is honour
We honour 6 million worlds in our candle lighting
We honour 6 million worlds in our remembering
We honour 6 million worlds by saying Never Again
We honour by bearing witness, by teaching this difficult history to our children. We honour by asking:
Where is the seed of this hate?
How was it made to blossom?
How was this hate elected?
Who is feeding it today?
To every soul that perished in the Nazi Holocaust, Jewish, Roma, disabled, gay, trans, to the millions of universes we can no longer explore,
To each of you, we pledge: We will keep learning, we will keep teaching, we will keep speaking, we will keep thinking, we will keep loving, we will keep building relationships across difference
We refuse to believe that we are powerless against hate, we refuse to abandon faith in humanity, we refuse to take anything for granted. In your memory, in the shadow of 6 million worlds, We will do everything we can to make never again mean never again.
Beth Israel News Prize
How do I get a Beth Israel News Prize?
To be eligible for a Prize, all you need to do is submit something to the Beth Israel News. For Editorial Guidelines on what we do (and don’t) publish, click here. Your item can be big or small, one time or every week; it can be notice of a typo, words of thanks, or beyond. Every time someone sends in a contribution, their name is entered to win. Once a month (or so), we will draw a name at random, and pick a – perhaps equally random prize.
Mazel tov, Eitan! You are the winner of the Beth Israel News for this month. Your prize is a bag of Munchos (chips, donated to Beth Israel by a kind member, excited about the Ladino nature of their name). To be eligible for a Prize, all you need to do is submit something to the Beth Israel News. For Editorial Guidelines on what we do (and don’t) publish, click here. Your item can be big or small, it can be notice of a typo, words of thanks, or beyond. Once a month (or so), we will draw a name and award a prize.
Choir Runs March 27th to mid June
The Jewish Community Choir aka Yachadeem resume rehearsals Thursday, March 27th and plans to continue through to mid June. For inspiration re: the importance of music in our tradition, and how “singing in a group literally allows us to harmonize with those around us,” see: Higher Than Speech Is Song (thank you Ruby and Ralph). To express your interest in joining the group, complete this brief application.
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Beth Israel Board shares Resolution
At our December meeting, the BIC Board grappled with resolutions that could express our shock and horror at recent events. We focused on two central ideals. First, it was important for us to express our deep sadness at and condemnation of a day that saw the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. And we also realized that there is a wide range of belief and opinion on the larger situation in the Middle East. As the only Synagogue in an area where many Jews feel isolated, we have a special responsibility to respect the diversity of our membership. We must remain a place that all Jews in our area can call a spiritual home. With these two ideals in mind, we crafted and approved the following resolutions:
- Beth Israel stands with our fellow Jews in Israel and the diaspora, along with people throughout the world, in condemning Hamas’s slaughter and kidnapping of innocent people on October 7,2023. We mourn the ongoing loss of innocent lives.
- Beth Israel is a spiritual and cultural home to a diverse community of Jews who hold dear an array of political beliefs, lived experiences, and identities. We affirm our commitment to embracing all of our members and celebrating our diversity as Jews.
We recognize that no statement can adequately address depth of emotion and perspectives around this complex situation. Our efforts to understand one another must be ongoing.
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Board of Beth Israel Congregation’s Statement Re:
INSPIRE Peterborough Cancelling
Leah Goldstein
The Beth Israel Board is issuing a statement about a situation that has occurred in Peterborough. Here is some background.
BACKGROUND
In 2023, Leah Goldstein, a Canadian cyclist was hired by a local group called Inspire to speak at their Women’s Day event on March 8, 2024. When the details were shared about the speaker they included her sports accomplishments and her time in the Israeli military and police force 30 years ago. The organizers of the Inspire group were subsequently harassed and intimidated until they canceled Leah’s presentation in January 2024.
This situation has not died down. By mid February, the story was picked up by many national and international news services. Pressure has been put on the federal government to stop funding Inspire. The organizers of Inspire have erased any social media articles about the event. And promoters of other Women’s Day events in Peterborough have reported being “inundated with negative calls” out of confusion with the Inspire situation.
BOARD DELIBERATIONS
The Beth Israel Board has spent many hours trying to compose a statement but consensus was not possible. This is not a criticism but an acknowledgement that the diverse views of our membership are also reflected in our board. Board members have their own views about this event according to their own lived experiences and perspectives. As a community, we strive to celebrate these differences, but at this time, the majority of Board members want to make a statement about this situation.
We encourage every member of our congregation to make up their own minds about this situation. We are providing contact information for other channels if you wish to express your concerns:
Beth Israel Board president@jccpeterborough.com or boardsecretary@jccpeterborough.com
Mayor Jeff Leal jleal@peterborough.ca
Dave Smith, MPP dave.smithco@pc.ola.org
Michelle Ferrari MP michelle.ferreri@parl.gc.ca
THE STATEMENT
The cancellation of well known motivational speaker Leah Goldstein to speak at the INSPIRE: Women’s Portrait Project in Peterborough event is a blatant antisemitic act in response to pressure from anti-Israel groups due to both her Israeli heritage and her military service some 30 years ago. This dis-invitation is reprehensible and unacceptable. It also should be seen as what it is: antisemitism. Members of the Board of Beth Israel Synagogue in Peterborough have been shocked and moved by the massive increase in antisemitism in countries all over the world and at home here in Canada as Jews are attacked, threatened, excluded, fired, ejected, silenced and canceled. And now it has arrived here in Peterborough.
The act of holding Leah Goldstein, a Jewish woman, collectively accountable for the actions of the state of Israel is consistent with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which has also been adopted as a guidepost by our Federal government.
As reported in the Peterborough Examiner, well intentioned people who organized the Women’s Day event to benefit people in Peterborough were pressured into making this decision. Public discourse should not include intimidation. We must all speak up when such acts occur.
We are grateful for the resulting outpouring of support for speaker Leah Goldstein. We hope that another forum will be found for Leah to visit our community and inspire us with her story.
Heather Pollock
Board Secretary, Beth Israel Peterborough
Resources for Combating
Anti-Semitism and Hate
In light of the increase in antisemitism at home and abroad, the Beth Israel Holocaust Education Committee has compiled a list of community and educational resources to combat antisemitism and hate here. If you have further resources you would like to suggest, please email Ralph. shoaheducation@
