The second season of Southern Jewish Voices will continue on Wednesday, March 20, when interviewer Margaret Norman sits down with Beth Scherer-Smokey and Martin Stein from the Knesseth Israel leadership team. Beth is from New York and Martin is from Skokie, Illinois, and they’ve both lived in Alabama since the early 1990s.
Attendees to the free program will enjoy a complimentary lunch while listening to Margaret interview Beth and Martin about their life experiences.
While Beth was not raised in an observant Jewish household, once she ended up in Birmingham she found herself attending weekly Shabbat at Chabad of Alabama. As she delved more deeply into Orthodox Judaism, she found herself attracted to its structure and tradition.
Meanwhile, Martin grew closer to Judaism through the Livnot U’Lehibanot program in Israel that helps strengthen Jewish identity. Also significant was the decision made by him and his wife to raise their adopted son as Orthodox.
Today Beth and Martin work to keep their KI congregation engaged in the community, and Beth was instrumental in getting KI’s new Holy Crepe food truck on the road. She hopes the enterprise will serve as a model to help other small Orthodox congregations grow and sustain themselves.
About SJV
Southern Jewish Voices is a collaborative effort between the Levite Jewish Community Center and Temple Beth-El to present stories about Jewish life in Birmingham and around the South. The program is presented through a series of interviews conducted in front of a live audience and includes a complimentary lunch. Videos of all sessions are archived online.
Special thanks to funding from the Alabama Humanities Alliance and the Ted and Marjorie Levite LJCC Fund at the Birmingham Jewish Foundation for their support of this program.