Temple Israel’s Sisterhood is dedicated to a wide variety of religious, educational, social, philanthropic, and advocacy efforts. We are an outlet for the vibrant energy, creativity, and passion of Reform Jewish women, a social hub of Reform Jewish life, and an integral part of our congregation. Would you like to join us? Please contact either of us.
Donna Seldes and Wendy Saltzburg
Temple Israel Sisterhood Co-Presidents
Temple Israel Book Club Events
At noon on the First Monday of each month, we get together to review and discuss a wide assortment of books including novels, biographies, memoirs, and non-fiction. Everyone is welcome -- please join us for a special experience. Although this is a Sisterhood event, men are welcome and encouraged to attend. We are now meeting via Zoom until such time as we can all get together again.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong (2022)
In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have a complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.
June 5th Selection:
"Maybe the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” (Ron Charles, Washington Post)
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenage single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story.
If you are interested in attending our virtual meetings, contact Ellen Rosichan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so she can send you an invitation to attend the Zoom meeting.