Shevie Tananbaum to Receive 2010 Trebach Award
Join us for Shabbat services on Friday, June 11th at 7:30 P.M. as Shevie Tananbaum becomes the twelfth recipient of the Stanley & Eleanor Trebach Award. This award, created in loving memory of Stanley & Eleanor Trebach (z”l), honors Temple members who, like Stanley & Eleanor, have provided “longstanding, faithful and unassuming service” to the Beth El Temple Center community.
Shevie joins distinguished predecessors, Marsha Mattison, Ruth & Richard Vallon, Ted Wayne, Florence Cooperstein, Alice Salamon, Ruth Cohen, Norman Goldstein, Bettina Winter, Irving Gerber, Charlotte Goldstein (z”l) and Archie Stepansky as Trebach honorees.
Shevie (who is officially known as “Sylvia”) joined the Temple with her husband, Norman (z”l) in 1960. She and Norman raised their daughters, Susan and Amy in our congregation and, following Norman’s untimely death in 1990, Shevie continued to be actively involved in the life of our congregation. Truth be told, even if Shevie hadn’t been such a devoted volunteer for the last fifty years, we might have needed to find a way to thank her for giving us her daughter Amy, who has been a dedicated and gifted Temple leader in her own right. Along with Amy and her children, Noah (who was a member of this year’s Confirmation class) and Becca (who will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah at Beth El next year), Shevie is a member of that “elite” club of three generation families at the Temple.
Of course, Shevie has done much more than just share her wonderful family with us. Over the fifty years of her relationship with our congregation, Shevie has exemplified the kind of service to our community that the Trebach Award was created to recognize. Over the years, Shevie has served as a Chairperson of the Youth Commission and helped to edit the Temple Bulletin. She has volunteered in the Temple office. She worked on many rummage sales and gave many, many hours helping to run the Temple’s former, weekly BINGO fundraiser. More recently, Shevie volunteered as part of the Temple’s literacy project, reading with students at the Tobin School in Cambridge. Finally, she has been among the leaders of the Bethelders and, through her consistent willingness to help plan activities, to take on organizing tasks and also to show up and create community has helped to sustain that very important program in our congregation’s life.
Through her many activities over the years, Shevie also has contributed what may be the most important gift any volunteer gives to our congregation. She has created a network of enduring, caring and meaningful relationships with people who share her love for this place. It will be our privilege and great joy to join Shevie, her daughter, Susan and son-in-law, Joe as well as Amy, Noah and Becca to celebrate those relationships and to honor Shevie’s gifts to Beth El. We look forward to seeing you on the 11th!
