JTS Sukkah Lunch and Tour on October 9

By Shula Fleischer, Florida Region Torah Fund Vice President

On October 9 I had the privilege of visiting The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York and meeting all my Zoom friends—my Torah Fund counterparts from our thirteen regions around North America. This meeting was conducted in a hybrid format with participants both in person and on Zoom. Lunch in the beautiful JTS sukkah was joyous. We truly enjoyed talking to each other and exchanging thoughts and ideas about the importance of Torah Fund to the future of the Conservative Movement. We enjoyed the cool weather and observing the mitzvah to sit in the sukkah—לֵישֵׁב בַּסֻּכָּה.

The highlights of the day were:

• Touring the new Women’s League offices and meeting the people who work there. The WL office was decorated with pictures of past international presidents and places. The pictures told our history of the past 80 years, starting with Mathilde Schechter and leading all the way to Julia Loeb, international president.
• We were led by Rabbi Joel Seltzer to the students’ lounge. The adjacent Women’s League Study Space was funded by the Torah Fund Creating New Spaces campaign. Across the hall, there is a large, clean and beautiful kitchen. I could just imagine students preparing their communal Shabbat meals and sitting together to eat and celebrate. We met five freshman students who were sitting and talking in one of the corners. We introduced ourselves and they expressed their gratitude to all of you, our donors, for creating this place to study, relax and socialize. In the pictures below you can see the plaque that was dedicated along with half of the large group who came to the meeting.