TBT Blog

When you think of Sisterhood do you think of the people who bake cookies for the Onegs? And do you think of the women who run the temple Judaica Shop? Do you also think of leaders of TBT? And of those who advocate for a more just and compassionate world for all people – issues such as diversity education, reproductive justice, climate justice, pay equity, and more?

Those are just some of the things that our Sisterhood members are involved with. In addition, Sisterhood leads one Shabbat service each year created by our members. Did you know that 4 of our past Sisterhood presidents have also served as Presidents of the TBT Board of Directors? And we always have a representative on the Board to share the voice of Sisterhood.

TBT Sisterhood is proud of our philanthropy, especially in ways that support TBT. Every year, we use any excess funds to donate to TBT and also local/global and Jewish/non-Jewish organizations based on the values we support. Over the past couple years, we have:

• Made a 2-year pledge of $1800 supporting the SECC
• Donated money to fund the scribe repairing our TBT Torahs
• Purchased 200 (matching!) place settings of new silverware for use at TBT events
• Funded Camperships when requested to send TBT students to Jewish summer camp or Israel experiences
• Created Comfort care packs for women receiving abortions from Cedar River Clinic and sent financial support to the clinic
• Contributed to mental health organizations
• Contributed to WRJ (our parent organization) Women of Reform Judaism (wrj.org)
• Generously contributed to the YES (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) Fund of the WRJ, making us a Chai Honor sisterhood
• Planned and prepared the Hanukkah dinner for our congregation
• Baked many yummy hamantaschen to distribute to our members
• Hosted a fun craft/shmooze on Zoom
• Gathered to watch an inspiring District program preparing us for the High Holy Days
• Served as host congregation for the large (13 states and 2 provinces) WRJ Pacific District convention last March

We create programs throughout the year that are open to all at TBT. Sisterhood is part of the larger organizations of WRJ (Women of Reform Judaism) and the Pacific District of WRJ Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District, which offers us even greater connection, training, and programming ideas, in addition to a larger voice advocating for Tikkun Olam. We are proud that the WRJ Pacific District President is our own member, Carol Schuster!

Each year as we set our calendar, we are open to hearing from you about programs you’d like to see and how you’d like to be involved. Please contact us (tbtsisterhood@templebnaitorah.org) for more information. We welcome all women, nonbinary and gender-fluid people belonging to TBT who support our mission and Reform Judaism.

The Mission of Temple B’nai Torah Sisterhood is to build connections between the Sisterhood of TBT to each other and, in turn, the Temple, our community, and the world-at-large, as part of Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ).  We achieve this goal by providing opportunities for spiritual, social, and intellectual growth.