Families from Bet Am Shalom, Kol Ami and Hebrew Institute gathered to plant seeds in preparation for spring at the Elm Street Garden in Yonkers, NY. They will germinate and be ready to find a new home outdoors in another month. Ronnie Berlin coordinated the program with the Elm Street Youth Center.

For two years, this year's adult B'nai Mitzvah Class has been studying with Rabbi Fredda Cohen and Eric Levine. Eric photographed the group as they continued to prepare for the day of their B'nai Mitzvah.

Simon Aronin describes: The Writers' Chug is a group of BAS members who write and present original Jewish short stories. Now in its sixth year, the chug meets monthly to share and critique (gently) original stories in process and share some writing tips. This spring, four members presented their stories at Bet Am Shalom on May 2. An additional four members will present stories acharei kiddush on June 15. Aspiring writers may contact Simon Aronin about participating in the fall of 2013.
Photographs are by Sid Hecker.

Saturday evening, February 23rd, was our annual reading of the Megillah and Purimspiel. This year's program was entitled, "Little Shul of Horrors: Yom Ki-Purim Or Revenge of the Crop Circles." If only these photos couple capture a fraction of the humor...

For three days during February, we traipsed to Brooklyn, to gather under the auspices of New York Cares to help people whose homes had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy last fall. Rik Kaye and Diane Tukman had made all the arrangements in advance. Once there, we donned Tyvek suits, hard hats, respirators, goggles and gloves (making us look ready to walk on the moon) and were transported to homes in the Rockaways or Brooklyn to begin "Mucking out!" The first day, we were waist deep in literal muck, rancid, moldy, bits of broken debris washed into a dirt crawlspace by unfriendly waters. We cleaned out insulation, broken tiles, tree parts, broken glass, soggy cloths, and more that you might not want to read about. Over the three days, we pulled up floor boards, pulled down ceilings, pulled out walls, pried out nails, swept up debris, toted debris, hauled out a cast iron tub and more. Totally exhausting and equally fulfilling work. We acquired an appreciation for manual labor. We met or learned the stories of the home owners who had been displaced by the storm. We bonded with each other, working together to accomplish our goal. What an incredible (and highly recommended) experience!

Members of Bet Am Shalom, Kol Ami and the Elm Street Youth Center gathered in our Simcha Room on October 21st for our 4th annual Harvest Luncheon. Chef Cara Tannenbaum, from the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC and caterer to the New York Philharmonic, led us in the preparation of three tasty vegetarian dishes which we ate with gusto! In advance, committee members had worked long and hard with Chef Cara to prepare a sweet potato and black bean filling for soft tacos, celery root and pear soup, and chocolate chip cookies (served with ice cream) for dessert. Is your mouth watering yet? Rabbi Bronstein opened the program with words of Torah that the diverse group was able to understand and relate to. Ronnie Berlin spearheaded the luncheon as well as 4 years of grants from UJA Federation of New York which have enabled us to maintain and develop this partnership with the aforementioned, as well as Hebrew Institute.