By Renee Greif, Outreach Chair
Welcome to a new year of Outreach News. As you can see from TBH’s Adult Education brochure for the 2004-2005 calendar year, Outreach will be working with our Rabbis to bring our members some wonderful programs particularly designed to meet the needs of our interfaith families. As a kick-off event for this year, please don’t miss our Mini Scholar in Residence weekend with Arlene Chernow, Regional Director of Outreach and Synagogue Community on November 12th and 13th (details and sign-up are in your Adult Ed brochure.) Arlene has been working with interfaith families for the last 20 years, and will be leading a discussion on the tremendous impacts that non-Jews and Jews by Choice have always had on the Jewish religion. I highly recommend this program for our interfaith couples, temple leadership, and those wanting to learn about our interfaith community.
Arlene wrote the following poem after our meeting to discuss the topic for her talk. It is a special tribute to a non-Jew who helped keep the Jewish faith alive.
By Arlene Sarah Chernow
You remember my husband,
You tell his story,
He saved his family from famine,
They became the Jewish people.
He became a trusted advisor of Pharaoh
He made his brothers jealous
They sold him into slavery
But he forgave them because he wanted to
see his father one more time.
His name was Joseph.
You remember my sons.
Ephraim and Manasseh.
Every Shabbat you bless your sons
Asking God to make your sons like my sons.
You remember my father-in-law, Jacob.
He became Israel.
I was the daughter of a priest,
I was given to Joseph as his wife by Pharoah
My father was the priest of On, an Egyptian city.
Joseph told me stories about the Hebrew people.
For many years Joseph did not know if he would
Ever see his family again.
He wanted his sons to know about his people,
He wanted his sons to be a part of his people.
Joseph loved his family and their traditions
It was up to me
I loved Joseph
His children were the greatest gift that I could give to his people.
All I ask is,
When you tell these stories,
Please remember my name
My name is Aseneth.
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