18th Annual
Connie Spear Birnbaum
Memorial Lecture
& Chai Anniversary
Celebration
Featuring Yossi Klein Halevi
Sunday, May 2, 2021
12:30 pm EDT
from the comfort of your own home
EVENT VIDEOS
Part 1: Slide show, welcome, excerpts from previous lectures, "Shabbat Hamalka"
Part 2: Horace Mann, Andrea Campbell, Ben Birnbaum and featured speaker, Yossi Klein Halevi
Part 3: Excerpts from previous lectures, expressions of gratitude, special guest speaker (Sophia) "Lo Alecha Hamalacha Ligmor", credits
The Synagogue Council of Massachusetts is honored to join lecture founder, Dr. Herbert Birnbaum, the Birnbaum family, and honorary chair, Alan Teperow in presenting the 18th annual Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture.
This year's program features noted journalist and author, Yossi Klein Halevi. Our speaker will the address the challenges of maintaining Jewish unity--in and between both Israel and the Diaspora--at a time of every growing polarization. He will also engage in conversation on this topic with with award winning journalist, Benjamin Birnbaum.
Lecture donors of $100 or more are invited to Tea with Yossi Klein Halevi at 12:00 (prior to the lecture event).
Connie Spear Birnbaum z"l
In the late 1980’s, when the growing divide between the denominations of Judaism threatened the integrity of a single and unified Klal Yisrael (Jewish people), The Synagogue Council instituted the Unity Mission to bridge the gaps by bringing together young leaders from across the denominational spectrum to help shape the community’s future. To head this initiative, Synagogue Council’s Executive Director, Alan Teperow, targeted an extraordinary Jewish communal professional, Connie Spear Birnbaum. Connie had the magnetism and passion for people in general, and her people in particular, to galvanize these forces and bring creativity to the process. The importance of community and the need to operate out of the box, values driven home by the pandemic, are precisely the elements which defined Connie as an inspiring and impactful leader.
Upon her untimely passing in January 2003, the Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture emerged to
continue her legacy as a partnership of the Birnbaum family and The Synagogue Council.
May the memory of Connie Spear Birnbaum be for a blessing.
We are abundantly grateful to those who make the Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture possible:
Pillars ($250+)
Dr. Herbert Birnbaum
(lecture founder)
Dr. Nathan & Robin Birnbaum
Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Dr. Bruce & Madelyn Donoff
Drs. Todd Heller & Ruth Klein
Joshua & Amelia Katzen
Robert & Janice Kerwin
Bonnie Lazar
Dr. Brian Miller
Rabbi Daniel & Ruth Pernick
Dr. Jonathan & Rabbi Shayna Rhodes
Dr. Fabienne Rottenberg
Jill & Larry Sandberg
Erica & Jerry Silverman
Dr. Fiza Singh
Anonymous
Patrons ($100-$249)
Alan Teperow (honorary chair) &
Dr. Suzanne Hanser
Arnold & Barbara Andler
Michael & Joyce Bohnen
Gretchen & Stewart Brandt,
H. Brandt Jewelers
Maureen Brodoff & Ellen Wade
Barry Caplan & Judith Freedman Caplan
Carole & David Decter
Dr. Jonathan & Renee Delatizky
Joni & Dr. Rodney Falk
Drs. David & Claire Fisher
Brenda & Harvey Freishtat
Dr. Robin Steinberg Gendelman &
Dr. Phillip Gendelman
Barbara Greenberg
Drs. Elliot & Esther Israel
Aaron & Ellen Kischel
Robin & Phillip Levy
Richard Mann
Drs. Murray & Barbara Miller
Alan Nelson
Elizabeth Pressman
Mike Rosenberg
Richard Saltzberg
Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, Congregation Sha'arei Tefillah
Rick & Rabbi Ma'ayan Sands
Sephardic Congregation of Newton
Daniel & Rifkie Silverman
David Starr
Joseph Stern
Jonathan & Ruth Tepper
Michael & Carol Wasserman
Sponsors ($54-$99)
Dr. Fred & Stephanie Cohen
Prof. Solomon Friedberg &
Dr. Karen Siller
Debra & Dr. Bernard Friedland
Payson Greene
Dr. Jesse & Brenda Hefter
Ron & Debby Iken
Ronda & Dr. Joshua Jacobson
Dr. Lawrence S. Milner
Adrienne Ruch
Dr. Craig & Tamar Schneider
Rachel & Daniel Seliber
Dr. David & Carol Stollar
Paul Tatelman
Friends
David Beckman
Barbara Bolshon
Joanne B. & Daniel Cohn
Barbara Gaffin & Doug Cahn
Lori Gilman
Joan & Prof. Lewis Glinert
Jonathan Golden
Sharon Haselkorn
Michael & Riselle Hirsh
Dr. John & Randi Lapidus
Nancy Lefkowitz
Dr. Carl & Naomi Lopkin
Elaine Matisoff
Beverly Peiser
Rabbi Barbara Penzner
Robert Perlman
Edna Perlmutter
Adam & Judith Rin
Linda Silverman
Gertrude Stoller
Michelle Weiner Taylor
Carol A. & Ken Turkewitz
Nathan Zielonka &
Ann Bellows
Rabbi Henry & Barbara Zoob
If you wish to make targeted donation to the Connie Spear Birnbaum Lecture, you may do so online or by check.
Online donations:
Click the Donate to SCM button and select "Donate to Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture".
Donations by check:
Please make your check payable to Synagogue Council, write "Connie Lecture" on the memo line, and mail your check to
Synagogue Council
1320 Centre Street. Suite 306
Newton, MA 02459
Tribute Committee
Alan Teperow, Honorary Chair
Rabbi Susan Abramson
Rabbi Marc & Jill Baker
Rav-Hazan Aliza Berger
Rabbi Daniel Berman
Ben Birnbaum
Joyce & Michael Bohnen
Gretchen & Stewart Brandt
Rabbi Ariel Burger
Jeremy Burton
Councilor Andrea Campbell
Barry Caplan & Judith Freedman Caplan
Rabbi Noah Cheses
Dr. Fred & Stephanie Cohen
Anita Diamant
Aaron Feuerstein
Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz
Professor Lewis Glinert
Howard Worona
Rabbi Leonard Gordon
Steven Greenberg
Shelley Greene & Professor David C. Jacobson
Rabbi William Hamilton & Dr. Debra Block
Rabbi Jonathan Hausman
Dr. Shirah & Stuart Hecht
Brenda & Dr. Jesse Hefter
Ronda & Dr. Joshua Jacobson
Rabbi Howard Jaffe
Bernice Sis Kazis
Robert & Janice Kerwin
Aaron & Ellen Kischel
Cantor Jeff Klepper
Rabbi Claudia Kreiman
Rabbi Daniel Liben
Jeff Lurie
Alan Nelson
Daniel Nesson
Liz Offen & Ethan Mascoop
Rabbi Barbara Penzner
Edna Perlmutter
Rabbi Daniel Pernick
Rabbi Josh Pernick
Rabbi Dr. Nehemia Polen
Stephanie Pollack
Elizabeth and Bob Pressman
Rabbi Victor Reinstein
Rabbi Shayna Rhodes
Rabbi Michelle Robinson
Cantor Elias Rosemberg
Jay & Daphnah Sage
Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Jill & Larry Sandberg
Dr. Craig & Tamar Schneider
Barry Shrage
Erica & Gerrald Silverman
Sandy Slavet & Joseph Strazzulla
Horace Small
Dr. Francene & Rav-Hazan Scott Sokol
Rabbi Keith Stern
Dr. David & Carol Stollar
Rabbi Mendy Uminer
Rabbi Moshe Waldoks
Howard Worona
Rabbi Henry Zoob
Sponsoring Synagogues/Organizations
Adams Street Shul of Newton
Ahavath Torah Congregation of Stoughton
B'nai Tikvah of Canton
Beit Sasson: The Sephardic Congregation of Newton
Center Makor
Chabad of Chestnut Hill
Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Congregation Beth Israel of Metairie, LA
Congregation Beth Israel of Worcester
Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Brookline
Congregation Shaarei Tefillah of Newton
Congregation Shirat Hayam of the North Shore
Facing History & Ourselves
Hadassah
Hebrew College
JCC of Greater Boston
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Massachusetts Board of Rabbis
Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue of Jamaica Plain
Synagogue Council of Massachusetts
Temple Aliyah of Needham
Temple Beth Avodah of Newton
Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley
Temple Beth Shalom of Needham
Temple Beth Zion of Brookline
Temple Emanuel of Newton
Temple Hillel-B'nai Torah of West Roxbury
Temple Isaiah of Lexington
Temple Israel of Natick
Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline
Temple Reyim of Newton
Union for Reform Judaism
Union of Minority Neighborhoods
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism-Northeast District
Young Israel of Brookline
Young Israel of Sharon
Congregation Beth El Atereth Israel of Newton
Maimonides School
Previous Connie Spear Birnbaum Memorial Lecture Speakers
2013: Malcom Hoenlein
2014: Nancy Kaufman
2015: Ofir Shaer & Rabbi Rick Jacobs
2016: Leon Wieseltier
2017: Rabbi Dr. Meir Soleveichik
2018: Ron Dermer
2019: Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin
2020: 55th Anniversary celebration of the Voting Rights Act
2004: Dr. Norman Lamm, z”l
2005: Richard M. Joel
2006: Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg
2007: Rabbi David Ellenson
2008: Rabbi Harold Kushner
2009: Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
2010: Rabbi Steven Weil
2011: Rabbi Steven Wernick
2012: Natan Sharansky