I Miss Stephanie Block

When I was growing up, I used to spend every second that I was not at school at a local tennis club. It did not matter if I had no one to play with (tennis is a tough game to play alone) or if all the courts were taken, it was the place where I always wanted to be. I knew people wondered why I was always there and what was so special to me about being around anything and everything related to tennis. Tennis was my passion, and it was what I wanted to do with my life.

In many ways I am thankful that I never was quite good enough to make tennis my profession because I believe that what I am doing now is far more fulfilling. But when I was younger I did not dream about teaching Hebrew school or giving sermons – I dreamed about being a professional tennis player.

For Stephanie Block, her passion was Temple Beth El. She spent every free second in her life at Temple. Whether it was volunteering, or committee work, or working in the office, she was always here, in and around everything that takes place in our community. She pursued her learning through her involvement in our education classes, she almost never missed a Shabbat service, she sat on the Temple board, and she was involved with too many committees to list. She also shared my passion for the land of Israel, and spent a summer in Haifa learning Hebrew and cultivating her love for the land. She even had visions of making Aliyah someday with her partner Denise.

In Haifa, Stephanie befriended Rabbi Edgar Nof of Temple Ohr Chadash and helped establish a bond between our congregation and theirs. It was Stephanie’s idea to send our students who had already been to Israel back again to live with members of Rabbi Nof’s Temple for two weeks. That experience gave our students a real opportunity to see what life is like for real Israelis day in and day out. This year we are again inviting students who have been to Israel previously to join the Temple Beth El Teen Israel Trip, and while the “first-timers” will travel the country with Susan Jacobs and me as tourists, the “veterans” will have an opportunity to live in the homes of Israelis and get a behind the scenes view of life in Israel. Since this experience never would have come about had it not been for Stephanie, we are delighted to announce that this special trip arranged for our Israel “veterans” will now be known as the “Dr. Stephanie Block Advanced Israel Program.”

We all miss Stephanie very much. But I am constantly aware of her presence because of the lives she touched and the tasks and missions she accomplished. At Jewish funerals it is customary to speak of the mitzvot that a person performed in his/her life so that those present will be inspired to fulfill those same mitzvot. In our Temple building, I am reminded everywhere I turn by the mitzvot Stephanie performed. She was an inspiration, and I miss her very much.

L’Shalom,
Jeremy Barras