H EADLINES
National Association of Temple
Executives serve Conservative
and Reform administrators,
respectively, DVASA spans
across denominations.

“We haven’t heard of any
other local group developing
and holding force to provide this
type of camaraderie,” said Robin
Minkoff, executive director
of Beth Sholom Synagogue in
Elkins Park. She has been a
DVASA member for more than
two years, the entirety of her
tenure at Beth Sholom.

Ji l l C ooper, DVASA’s
past president and executive
director of Beth David Reform
Congregation in Gladwyne for
the past 14 years, believes that
it’s DVASA’s commitment and
connection to one another that
sets them apart.

“We hold each other up, and
we laugh, and we kibitz and
we make fun of each other,”
Cooper said.

Working up to 80 hours
a week, Wachstein, who
until recently was the execu-
tive director of Temple Siani
in Dresher before moving to
Baltimore, was exhausted. One
day, he remembers being too
tired to speak. By the end of
the day, he had received texts,
calls and emails from DVASA
members, all saying they were
there if he needed them.

“I don’t think any of us
would have gotten through
any of this without each other,”
Cooper said.

Aft er running a synagogue
with closed doors for so long,
Wachstein, with the help of
DVASA, is fi nally fi guring out
how to open them.

Last week, congregants
at Beth El Congregation of
Baltimore, the synagogue
at which Wachstein is newly
executive director, were able
to attend in-person Friday
night Shabbat services without
having to preregister to attend.

Th ere were more than 100
attendees, and Wachstein
swore he “could see smiles
almost through their masks.”
Wachstein can breathe
another sigh of relief. Between
the two synagogues he
worked for over the course of
the pandemic, there were no
workplace transmissions of
COVID-19. At this point, as adminis-
trators are busy planning high
holiday services — online,
in-person and hybrid — for
this coming September,
DVASA still holds meetings
weekly over Zoom.

But Cooper hopes that
doesn’t continue for too long:
She’d rather have the next
meeting in person. ●
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
Stein Continued from Page 9
for interfaith women and
non-binary people to celebrate
traditions and spirituality, and
reclaimed her title of rabbi that
she denounced aft er leaving
her Orthodox community.

She is working on a cookbook,
another memoir and a televi-
sion show.

Stein no longer sees her
Judaism and queerness in
contention with one another,
and in her talk, which coincided
with the fi rst days of LGBT
Pride Month, she wanted to
make sure others did not see
that way, either.

“Being Jewish makes me
a better person and a better
queer person; being queer
makes me a better person and a
better Jewish person,” she said.

“And that is something that is
worthy of celebration.” ●
relationship to being male,
female, both or neither.

Despite the textual evidence,
Stein doesn’t believe she should
have to use them to prove her
existence as a trans woman: “I
don’t think we need religious
texts to justify who we are.

I don’t like that. We need to
learn to accept people because
of who they are, because that’s
the right thing to do.”
In 2016, Stein celebrated
her bat mitzvah and naming
ceremony at Romemu Synagogue
in New York. She showed her
audience a portion of the event
via a grainy video clip. Aft er the
rabbi announces her name, Stein
is nearly swallowed by congre-
gants and clergy singing and
dancing around her, rejoicing.

Since then, Stein helped srogelberg@jewishexponent.com;
found Sacred Space, a forum 215-832-0741
Dinner and Beer Pairing for Father’s Day!
Presented by Our Culinary Team, Louis Schoener, Patty Walton and Quetta Gadsden
Welcome back for our second installment of
our live cooking tutorials! Our Mother’s Day
event was such a success that we decided to
do another in honor of Father’s Day! Join us
for a fun and easy meal to prepare at home
along with beer-pairing recommendations.

Please provide your email address and
mailing address so that a list of ingredients
can be sent to you prior to the event.

Attendees will also receive an Artis Senior
Living oven mitt and cutting board!
Join us for a FREE
Virtual Cooking Class
Friday, June 18 th
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.

To Register
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Zoom link will be sent by noon on the day of
the event.

Please Register By Wednesday, June 16 th
Virtually Hosted By Artis Senior Living of Huntingdon Valley: 2085 Lieberman Drive, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
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JUNE 10, 2021
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