Rabbi Haim Beliak
I just returned from leading a 17- day intensive study mission to Poland. A key focus was on current Progressive Jewish life of Beit Warszawa, Beit Trojmiasto, and the other Beit Polska communities and projects. Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland sponsors Beit Polska and is associated with the World/European Union for Progressive Judaism.
Morning In Warsaw
Our post-pandemic communities overcame many challenges but also achieved many things! We have every reason to be proud.
This letter seeks your financial support (click here to donate), but it is also a resolute fan letter for a courageous community that merits your support in one of the most historic and complex regions of the world. Today’s Beit Polska communities include people, many of whom are the surviving descendants of our long-lost families, who faced a world in which it was necessary to mute and hide their Jewish identity to survive. Today the unexpected is happening: The great-grandchildren and grandchildren of those who seemed lost are seeking out our faith. Spiritual seekers and those from mixed marriages provide two additional strands of people drawn to the Beit Polska communities. All this is familiar to us living outside of Poland but in a different register because it has its special emotional significance in Poland.
As a child of two Holocaust survivors, I see the on-going efforts of Progressive Polish Jewish life as an affirmation of Jewish identity and our loving response to people who seek to join in perpetuating the values and teaching of our people.
Beit Polska Chair Ms Hanna Gawronska-Spiewak, March for the Liberation of the Hostages, 11-19-23 Warsaw
Together with our new chair Hania Gawronska-Spiewak, we see an opportunity for generational healing and renewal in our coming together with other Progressive Polish Jews to build a welcoming community. During the almost decade and a half of my involvement, the building of bridges of understanding and pride among descendants of Polish Jews outside Poland and the current Polish Jews has nourished each other. We have continued to foster Progressive Jewish life in Poland and Jewish identity throughout the world.
Empty chairs in the Jasna synagogue with pictures of the kidnapped, Oct. 21
Currently, Poland’s Progressive Jewish community includes Beit Warszawa in Warsaw, Beit Trojmiasto in the north, Beit Konstancin near Warsaw, and in Krakow a community that associates with us, Or Hadasz. Together, over 30 new learners are currently preparing to join the Jewish people. In my December 2022 and November 2023 visits, as well as in the visits of Rabbi Mati Kirschenbaum, we had extensive interviews with all of the candidates. Our focus is to provide the best learning experience for our congregants and new members through the rabbis and teachers available. A visit to our website (www.JewishRenewalinPoland.org) conveys the proud and outstanding congregational leadership that has emerged during this time of the October 7 crisis. Beit Polska’s leaders and members have been in the forefront of the Jewish community in Poland defending Jewish dignity and reminding the public of the hostage situation.
Moving to our new headquarters at 7 Jasna Street
In May of 2023, we leased a Warsaw-city-owned facility across from the Philharmonic Hall on Jasna Street. The new facility is modest but beautiful. So much of the energy to prepare the building came from old and new members. Our new chair, Hania Gawronska-Spiewak, is the architect who led the effort to find, renovate, and rent this prime Warsaw location. Gawrsonska-Spiewak took office in January 2023 and despite suffering the loss of her husband, Dr. Pawel Spiewak, managed the impossible!
We have reconstituted our two-year Step by Step conversion program, taught via Zoom by our two Polish-speaking rabbis, Menachem Mirski and Mati Kirschenbaum. We are strengthening our Step by Step program with two new translations into Polish. Rabbi Walter Rothschild’s The Honey and the Sting is soon to be used for the first year of the program. The second year will use Rabbi Marc Rosenstein’s Turning Points in Jewish History. We have just signed our agreement with the Jewish Publication Society of America and the University of Nebraska. These two books are intended for use in our conversion classes (Step by Step) but also as modern texts in secondary education gymnasium and university classes.
Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland and Beit Polska continue efforts to address the needs of Ukrainian refugees. Initially, we scrambled to meet emergency needs but now we focus on the childcare needs through the Janusz Korczak Child Care of Beit Polska and Spynka. With time, we have also made increasing contact with the Ukrainian Jewish community’s members.
The duo-language Freighted Legacies webinars are a bridge across language barriers. The diverse topics include literature, history, music, identity, and the popular cuisine. The shared experience of addressing a monthly topic has created a community that transcends geographic boundaries.
Memorial to Janusz Korczak
One way you can help is by making a charitable gift from your IRA. To make your year-end gift, please visit our website or use the mailing address below. If you have questions or need information regarding gifts of stock, Qualified Charitable IRA distributions, or other types of gifts, please contact me directly at 310-592-8960 or RabbiBeliak@jewishrenewalinpoland.org for assistance. Thank you for your continued commitment to Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland. We are profoundly grateful for your partnership and look forward to the positive impact we can achieve together in the coming year. I humbly offer you my gratitude for your support and ask that you continue to see the contemporary and historic importance of our work.
Warmly,
Haim Beliak, Rabbi
Volunteer Executive Director
Thank you for your generosity! You may donate securely online here.
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Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland
P.O. Box 5438, Beverly Hills, CA 90209
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