Congregation Am David looks forward to gala weekend

From May 15-17, Congregation Am David, in Warwick, will look back and celebrate 60 years in the Rhode Island community.  The congregation will remember the beautiful synagogue building, as well as honor Am David member Alice Goldstein, who has been living in the United States for 75 years following her narrow escape from Nazi Germany. Her many contributions to the Rhode Island Jewish community will be recognized. 

On Jan. 27 the world observed the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, where an estimated 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered between 1941 and 1945. 

Alice, a speaker for the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Rhode Island, was a young girl living in Germany, during the dark years of Nazi tyranny. Her family had deep roots in Germany, going back more than 200 years.  As their life eroded at the hands of the Nazis, Alice’s  family managed to escape Germany, and sailed to the United States on one of the last boats to arrive from Europe, in August 1939.  One week later, World War II began.

Alice became a successful research associate at Brown University and eventually settled in Warwick, along with her husband Sid, professor emeritus of sociology at Brown University.  As Alice and Sid were joined by other Jews migrating to Providence, the need for a local congregation became apparent. Worshipping at first in private homes and then in a hangar at T.F. Green Airport, the founding members of the Warwick Jewish Community Association, in 1957, began the construction of the present Am David building.

Alice has gone on to become a pillar in the Rhode Island Jewish community, and has been involved in all aspects of Jewish communal life. A passionate educator and firsthand witness to the Holocaust, she has turned around the difficult days of her girlhood, and with a strong voice, has become a forceful advocate for many causes.  Her book, “Ordinary People, Turbulent Times,” published in 2008, chronicles her life story in Nazi Germany and the United States, and is available on amazon.com.

The gala weekend kicks off on May 15 with Shabbat services  at 7:30 p.m., followed by installation of officers for the 2015-2016 year. An Oneg Shabbat immediately follows services.

On May 16, Shabbat morning services will begin at 9:30, followed by a Kiddush luncheon.

The weekend’s festivities continue Saturday night at 6:30, with a cocktail hour, followed by a catered dinner at 7:30, for $36.  Rhode Island dignitaries, along with many friends and family, will be on hand to celebrate this occasion.  RSVP deadline for cocktail hour and dinner is May 1.

The weekend concludes May 17, at 2 p.m. with the Cantor Ivan Perlman Memorial Concert, which features Rabbi Richard Perlman and his three brothers, performing together as “The Cantors Perlman Brothers,” along with Temple Sinai’s choral ensemble, Shireinu. This is the first time these two groups have performed together. Admission is $18.

Please join congregants of Am David and friends throughout Rhode Island for this festive gala weekend celebration, as we reminisce on the past, honor our beloved member Alice Goldstein and look forward with anticipation to the future.

For more information, contact Paula Olivieri at 401-378-0719.

MARK SWEBERG is a member of Congregation Am David.