As we approach the upcoming Jewish holidays, I started reflecting on the past year and all that has changed. Like many of you, last year I participated in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services by zoom with my husband, unable to be with family and friends in person. But thanks to technology and wonderful planning by my congregation, we still had a meaningful holiday. This year, again, because of the flare-up of COVID-19, Kirk and I will be attending virtually, which seems so disappointing after the improvement we had been seeing until recently. Like everyone else in the world, we have adapted to our circumstances and found that we could adjust and still enjoy friends and family and traditions though in different ways. Unlike most holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur celebrate something personal and extraordinary, our ability to change and grow. This is our opportunity to take the time for self-examination and think about our deeds this past year – the good and the not so good.

Sandra Binder Smith

President,
Hadassah Greater Southwest

As we approach the High Holidays, normally we are looking forward to the joys of the holidays and the emphasis on life.  But as we look around us and as we listen to and read the news, we find we are in very dark times.  Global events reported are full of unnecessary deaths, caused by conflict.  The global pandemic is worsening, and hospital ICUs are reaching capacity.  It is very hard to focus on the message of the High Holidays.

Sometimes taking action helps a person to have a more elevated mood and potentially helps the situation.  Writing letters to your elected officials to express your thoughts and feelings can be helpful to the situation.  Taking maximal actions to protect yourself and others from disease can definitely make a difference.

All these actions are particularly powerful when large numbers of people do these beneficial acts.  Each person’s act is an important contribution to the whole.  It could be considered a moral imperative to contribute actions that benefit all of humankind.

Thus, we will soon be celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the first of the ten days of repentance.  As we look into ourselves, we reflect on our own accomplishments and those of the Jewish people.  We recall the first blast of the Shofar when Moses “blasted” the Jewish people for their sin of the Golden Calf (idol worship).  To this day, we continue the tradition started by Moses to repent.

After looking back, we move forward to fulfill our lives for the betterment of ourselves, our community and our world.

Let us pray that the scientists who created the miraculous COVID 19 vaccine will be blessed to continue their quest for world health and healing.

Sheila Train
Ruth Sherman
Education Co-chairs

As we begin this New Year, may it be filled with the promise of peace, health, and happiness. As we share these wishes with one another, let’s be happy to begin this year with a renewal of strength and efforts in all we do in Hadassah.

Hadassah is now beginning an exciting Membership Campaign for 2021, asking us all to increase our efforts to bring in new members.  This campaign promotes all the benefits of Hadassah membership. All regions are experiencing a decrease in membership, as I’m sure you can imagine.  We have not able to see each other and share the simple routines of our daily lives.  This takes a toll on everyone.

With this new membership campaign, “Hadassah is Here to Heal our World – with You.”, coupled with our current campaign, “Hadassah is Here,” we will focus on Hadassah as a center for life-saving innovations and more. When you are a member of Hadassah, you can be proud that you are part of an organization that is saving lives in the U.S., Israel, and the world.  Please feel free to contact your membership chairs for further insight to learn more about all that we do. I hope you all will increase your efforts to share Hadassah with friends, family, and your synagogue community so that they, too, have a chance to join other passionate, dynamic women who share in a desire to become part of a larger community with the power to effect change, advance health care, who feel a love of Israel, and Jewish values.

• Annual membership is $36. This membership option is a good way to get introduced to Hadassah.
• Life membership is $250
• Associate membership (for men and boys) is $250 and is for life.
• *Child Life - $250 – regions receive lists of child life members when they turn 17, so they may be contacted and welcomed as young women, as they begin to engage with Hadassah.

All Hadassah memberships are excellent as gifts for new babies, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, or just to honor a special person in your life.

Join us as we re-energize our contacts and stress the power of Hadassah.  Share all that we do and help others tap into the Power of Women Who Do!  Feel free to contact me for further information.

Shana Tova u’ metukah and may we all share in the sweetness of apples dipped in honey!

Risa Stein
Region Membership Chair
Greater Southwest Region
risaruth66@gmail.com

This month’s member in the spotlight is Leslie Hickey from San Antonio.  When asked to answer some questions about herself and her interest in Hadassah, these are her answers.

How long have you been a Hadassah member? How did you first get interested in Hadassah? What are you favorite Hadassah programs/causes?

“My mom made me a life member about 10 years ago, right around the time my twins were born. My oldest son was two years old, so I had three kids under three, and didn’t have much time to get involved. But when my local chapter president called and asked me to take on the role of Treasurer, and promised I didn’t have to attend any events (ha ha), I agreed.

From there I went to region conferences and started learning so much about Hadassah and meeting such amazing women, I was soon President-Elect. Three months into my presidency however, my husband’s company asked us to move from Colorado Springs to San Antonio. When I arrived in SATX, I reached out to Hadassah and met a number of lovely women, but most were several years (if not decades) older than me. That is when I started talking about Hadassah with the women I was meeting socially, and about 1.5 years later, we chartered the Aviva Group for young(er) women – 20s-50s.

Pre-pandemic, the Aviva Group held monthly lunches around town, and while most of us are working moms, we still found time to get away from the office for an hour and meet up. These lunches were primarily social but we always had a Hadassah Minute to catch up on the latest happenings locally, regionally, and nationally. We also hosted fun events, such as the Vodka and Latkes Hanukkah Party, where we had a latke cook-off with three different restaurants/caterers, and the Ta Ta Trifecta, a breast-cancer awareness program where we had survivors/previvors speak to us, offered information on BRCA testing, and donated gently used bras to charity.

San Antonio was also selected as a Hadassah city to partner with Momentum, and a group of 10 women from SATX went to Israel in December 2019, for 10 magical days in Israel. We met women from all over the United States and Israel, as well as Hadassah women from other cities and the bonds formed were amazing and intense. We all grew for the better, and came home with a renewed passion for our Judaism and got to see Hadassah hospital and one of the youth villages first hand. It was a remarkable experience.

Since COVID, we’ve continued doing events over Zoom, with book club authors, the President of El Al North America, challah bakes and Shabbat candle lighting. We are excited to bring Evolve Hadassah:  The Next Generation’s Drink Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness event to SATX on October 7, 2021, in partnership with the Barshop JCC. The event will be virtual and will feature a speaker from Israel as well as young women sharing their stories.”

What positions have you held in Hadassah? What motivated you to become a Hadassah leader (ex: family connection, a special mentor, a favorite cause)?

I’ve been Treasurer, President-Elect, and President in Colorado Springs, and President and Immediate Past President in San Antonio. I’m currently a member of Hadassah’s Evolve Young Women’s Department, serving on the Outreach team. This team is planning The Forum, a quarterly program for younger women serving in Hadassah leadership roles in various groups and chapters. It’s an opportunity for networking problem solving, and personal growth. I’ve also been fortunate to work with the women who continue to bring Momentum and Hadassah together, and support that effort whole-heartedly, as it’s bringing moms together for a common cause around Israel, women, and Judaism. “

Tell us a little about yourself (where are you from, your family, hobbies, other community interests, etc.)

“I grew up in the suburbs outside Sacramento, California, where my parents and two sisters and their families live. After attending American Jewish University and obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, I did a nine-month public affairs fellowship with Coro, and then worked for a Los Angeles City Councilman for two years. Then it was time to move across the country, to Syracuse, New York and the Maxwell School for my Master of Arts degree in Public Administration, where I met my now husband, Bryce. After graduation, I got a job in New York City and Bryce and I visited on the weekends, as he had moved to the Washington, DC area. Deciding I liked him more than the job, I started job hunting in the DC area and was hired by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). I left NYC and moved to DC two months prior to 9/11. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say. It was a shocking experience and I am grateful to have survived that day, as we had friends and co-workers who were not as fortunate. We married in 2003 and little did we know, we’d be moving to Colorado less than a year later, when Bryce’s company asked him to relocate there. That’s when I went to work for the City of Colorado Springs Budget Office, eventually moving to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, where I managed the budget, accounting, statistics, and IT functions. When we left Colorado in 2015 and came to San Antonio, I was hired by the San Antonio Police Department, where I currently manage the budget, accounting, payroll, contracts, and fleet.

I have three children – Micah, age 13, Hannah, age 10, and Elijah, age 10. We survived a COVID Bar Mitzvah, and are now anxiously awaiting the moment we can vaccinate the twins against this crazy virus. Our COVID experience has seen all five of us working/schooling from home, a trip to California in our travel trailer, and a new furry family member, a labradoodle named Einstein, who joined us in March 2020 and is about 1.5 years old now.

Hadassah has truly rekindled my love and connected to Israel, allowing me the opportunity to reconnect with family there and grow my love for the land and the people who live there. The medical research coming from Hadassah is astounding to me, and I take so much pride in knowing my involvement and support is helping cure today’s most deadly diseases. Hadassah stands up for women and women’s rights, and looks to protect families as well – all things that are important to me and my beliefs. It’s an amazing organization that speaks directly to my values and it has gifted me with some of the closest and most beautiful friendships I’ve ever had.”