My husband, Rabbi Allen Maller, and I had been invited by Severyn Ashkenazy the patron of the Reform Jewish Congregation in Warsaw to come to Poland for two months, to help the Beit Warshazva Congregation. Before we left Poland to return to Los Angeles, Darius gave me a kiss and handed me a large picture […]
Margosha’s Story
One sabbath, I noticed Margosha, she had come by herself to the reform synagogue in Warsaw for Friday night services. She was in her late twenties a thin, tall woman with short brown hair and glasses. Margosha’s clothes were in brown tones, a tweedy blazer, a dark chocolate brown skirt with a white shirt and […]
Zigler’s Story
Introduction by Rabbi Allen Maller In 2010 I was asked to serve as a Rabbinic scholar in residence at Beit Warszawa. My wife Judy Maller and I were amazed by the wonderful people we met in the congregation. Every rabbi knows that the Halakic definition of who is a Jew is simple: all children born […]
Why Did This Pole Become a Jew?
Anna and I were sitting at a country house outside of Warsaw, Poland. There Beit Warszawa, a congregation of Reform Jews, had gathered to celebrate the Jewish harvest holiday, Succoth. The men had already put up the frame of wood beams for the little Sukkah. The men and children headed into the nearby forest to […]