Each year, the Society Hill Synagogue Board of Directors has the pleasure of nominating certain synagogue members to receive an award for their extraordinary service to our community. Eligible candidates must be members in good standing who are not current Board members or past Hatan Torah or Kallat B’reshit honorees. These individuals have shared time and/or talent that has had a significant impact on our community, and/or they have demonstrated an extraordinary level of commitment to Society Hill Synagogue over time.
We are so pleased to announce that this year’s Extraordinary Service Award recipients are Ellen Fennick, Lesli Reich, and Barbara Spector.
Ellen Fennick
Ellen and her husband, Marty Rosenberg, joined in 2003 after learning about Society Hill Synagogue from some neighbors who have since relocated. Ellen is delighted to be part of our warm and engaging community and loves to attend services. She enjoys singing; meeting genuinely friendly, interesting, and thoughtful people; and feeling comfortable being in a Jewish space with people who have similar Jewish values.
An active member, Ellen has participated in many activities, programs, and adult education classes at Society Hill Synagogue. She attended Rabbi Nathan’s Nuts & Bolts class and has organized many Arts & Culture events with her co-chair, Eleanor Oxman, and she has also participated in many Triple Chai activities. She sang and led prayers at some of the Friday night services during Rabbi Avi’s sabbatical and when the congregation was between cantors. She and Marty have hosted/attended Shabbat celebrations in their own home and in the homes of other members, and they have lent their beautiful voices to Hazzan Jessi’s music classes and her Zoom presentation on International Jewish music. Ellen has also served on the Board of Directors.
Currently Ellen sings regularly with the Levites before Friday evening services, studies Hebrew in a Zoom class taught by Marc Schwartz, particiates in Coolanu events, and serves as a frequent greeter/usher—where she truly enjoys welcoming members and visitors into our services. A retired professional in the field of Disability Education, Ellen also serves as a member of the Inclusion Committee and Disability Inclusion Subcommittee, where she has made valuable contributions to improve our directional signage throughout the building. Faced with some hearing challenges of her own, Ellen has provided the group with excellent feedback and insights to improve accessibility for others who have invisible and/or visible disabilities.
Ellen has joyfully woven herself into the fabric of our community and continues to support, enrich, and enjoy Society Hill Synagogue life. We are grateful for all of her contributions and wish her Mazel Tov on receiving this most deserved honor.
Lesli Reich
Lesli and her husband, Carter, joined Society Hill Synagogue in August 2019 after moving to Philadelphia in 2018 from Boston, where they had been very active in shul life. Lesli was a member of the Sisterhood there and, along with a co-chair, produced a Sisterhood cookbook that was year in the making! After that, she was asked to co-chair the membership committee, followed by an invitation to serve on the Board of Directors. She went on to serve as Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President of Finance, Vice President of Operations, and President of the synagogue. She then served four more years as Past President, for a total of 14 straight years on the Board! Regular attendees of Shabbat services, Lesli and Carter were also both active members of the Ritual Committee and often served as Gabbais during Shabbat services.
Once they arrived in Philadelphia, Lesli described how they ended up at Society Hill Synagogue: “We had been shul shopping in Philly for almost a year when one Saturday afternoon, while taking a walk in Society Hill, we stumbled upon Society Hill Synagogue. When we returned home, I went online to learn more about this neighborhood synagogue. I liked what I saw and so we decided to attend an upcoming Open House. From the minute we walked in, we were warmly greeted by David Ladov, and by the time we left the Open House that day, we said to each other, ‘Let’s join for a year and see how it goes!’ Well, that one year has now turned into almost five years, and we are still very happy with our decision!”
It should be no surprise that once they joined Society Hill Synagogue it was in Lesli’s nature to immediately get involved in our services, programs, and activities! Lesli has loved participating in the planning of special events such as the dedication of the Paula Kline Learning Center as well as planning for Rabbi Nathan’s installation celebration. She and Carter have remained regular Shabbat service attendees, and Lesli has served as Gabbai on our bimah as well. She had the pleasure of working with David Ladov to update the synagogue bylaws—a herculean task—and is now a member of the Personnel Committee under the leadership of Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton. She also enjoys co-chairing Coolanu with Elliot Landes and is a participating member of the Food Insecurity Committee.
We are grateful to Lesli for offering her talents, time, knowledge, and experience to Society Hill Synagogue and for providing extraordinary service to our community. She and Carter are highly engaged members, who love to give back, while enjoying all Society Hill Synagogue has to offer.
Barbara Spector
For ten long years, although Barbara Spector lived only a block away from Society Hill Synagogue, she was too intimidated to walk inside. As a young student, she had been drawn to Jewish culture and the beauty of Hebrew prayers but had drifted away from Jewish practice in the ensuing decades. Now something was drawing her back toward Judaism, so she made an appointment to visit her neighborhood “jewel of a shul.”
While waiting in the entranceway before her meeting with Rabbi Avi Winokur, she met another congregant, Debbie Stewart. After a delightful conversation with Debbie, her relationship with Society Hill Synagogue was off to a great start! Following her meeting with Rabbi Avi, she met with then Executive Director Betty van de Rijn and vowed to return for a Friday night service. Soon afterward—sometime in 2008 or 2009—she became a member.
During those early years, Barbara met regularly with Rabbi Avi, who read the Shabbat prayers aloud with her and helped her to master the Hebrew. The synagogue became her refuge between 2012 and 2018, a tumultuous period in her personal life that included the death of her mother.
Barbara became involved in Society Hill Synagogue programs and activities almost immediately. She is a past member of the Religion, Social Action, and GUB committees. Though participating in the “get-out-the vote” efforts with the Social Action Committee took Barbara out of her comfort zone, she realized that the importance of the work outweighed her discomfort. She was also a member of the Cantor Search committee and was a regular attendee at the Tuesday morning in-person minyanim back in the day.
A major turning point in Barbara’s life occurred in 2022, when she began learning Torah trope to prepare for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of her Bat Mitzvah. When she was 13 years old, members of Reform synagogues did not chant the Hebrew text of the Torah, and women in Conservative synagogues were not permitted to read from the Torah at all. A determined student, Barbara decided to simultaneously participate in Hazzan Jessi’s trope class, while also attending the Torah Academy program held at BZBI. The first time she ever leyned Torah was at Society Hill Synagogue on March 19, 2022 (Parashat Tzav). In November 2022, she had a joyous Bat Mitzvah anniversary celebration at Society Hill Synagogue (Parashat Noach) and was thrilled to be able to leyn the same words she had merely spoken in 1972!
More recently Barbara has focused her Society Hill Synagogue volunteer activities on leyning Torah and supporting the Monday night Zoom minyan as a regular minyan leader and attendee. This year she provided support and logistical advice to the Society Hill Synagogue staff to facilitate the setup of our fantastic Second Night Passover Seder. As she prepares for full retirement, Barbara looks forward to having even more time to devote to synagogue life.
We are so glad that Barbara has made Society Hill Synagogue her synagogue home, and we’re grateful for all of the time and talent that she has contributed to our community. Please join me in wishing Barbara a hearty Mazel Tov for her extraordinary service!
