A few days after her 90th birthday, Bettijane was called to the Torah in honor of her 90th birthday in the Beth-El Chapel. For 68 of her 90 years, Bettijane has been a fixture at Temple Emanu-El. From participating in Gather dialogue groups to serving as a Daily Sunset Service reader, there is hardly an area of life at Temple Emanu-El that Bettijane has not touched.
“It’s been an enormous part of my family’s life,” Bettijane said on a warm summer afternoon at her home in Manhattan.
When Bettijane and her family arrived in New York City from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, they knew that they wanted to join a Reform temple. Growing up she had been an active member of the National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) and regularly attended services at Wilkes-Barre’s Reform synagogue.
Bettijane’s service to Temple Emanu-El began early. Her first volunteer role was as the corresponding secretary for the Women’s Auxiliary (now known as Women of Emanu-El). When her son Steven was in Religious School, she was president of the Religious School Parent’s organization. She helped serve the first meal in the history of the Sunday Lunch Program when the program began in 1982. She just retired as a volunteer from the program after 43 years of service. She volunteered alongside her son Steven for many of those years.
“As far as my involvement with Emanu-El, the Sunday Lunch program is the love of my life,” she said. “It’s essential. We feed people. It’s very important in New York these days and has always been.”
Reflecting on her decades of membership, Bettijane explained how connections from Temple Emanu-El augmented her family’s life. While living on the Upper East Side, she recalled how they would regularly run into her son’s Hebrew School classmates while walking on Madison Avenue. A friendship she forged with a fellow Religious School parent while taking the bus, is still going strong.
Bettijane’s apartment is filled with mementos from a lifetime at Emanu-El. Emanu-El Eats, a congregational cookbook, rests with other books in her study. A Temple Treasury: The Judaica Collection of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York is also part of her book collection. Amongst a display of greeting cards and other mementos, is a picture and greeting from one of the Temple Emanu-El teens she met through Calling Generations, the Temple’s intergenerational program.
Of Temple Emanu-El’s 180-year history, Bettijane has witnessed nearly 40 percent of it. As the temple sets its sights on the next 180 years, Bettijane hopes Temple Emanu-El continues to help the community understand the Reform Jewish values of the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man and bring families together.
Back in the Beth-El Chapel, after her birthday aliyah, Bettijane received a blessing from Rabbi Joshua Davidson, Peter and Mary Kalikow Senior Rabbinic Chair. “In so many ways, Bettijane has devoted her life to the Jewish faith and community,” Rabbi Davidson told the congregation. “To all of us who have committed ourselves to this congregation, her presence is a source of comfort and strength and wisdom.”
