WELCOME TO THE December 2021 WISDOM WINDOW! WISDOM WOMAN OF THE MONTH BARBARA (BOBBIE) LEWISBarbara (Bobbie) Lewis started her career as a daily newspaper reporter in Philadelphia, her hometown, but devoted her working years to communications for nonprofit organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit, Sinai Hospital of Detroit, Hospice of Michigan and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. She has won numerous awards for writing and publication production.In retirement, Bobbie is a contributing writer for the Detroit Jewish News. She has lived in metro Detroit since 1976. In 2020, Bobbie and her husband, Joe, moved from the Oak Park house where they had lived for almost 40 years to a condo in the historic Park Shelton in Midtown Detroit – two days before the statewide Covid lockdown. (Needless to say, it hasn’t been the experience they had anticipated!)She is currently WISDOM’s vice president for membership, having previously served as secretary and president. She is also a member and former group co-president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization.In 2004, Bobbie was a contestant on Jeopardy! Trailing badly, she came in second because she was the only contestant to get the Final Jeopardy question correct. (She says it was a great experience but also one of the most nerve-wracking in her life!)Bobbie graduated from Antioch College in Ohio, whose graduates take seriously the counsel of its first president, Horace Mann: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” She also has Master’s degrees from Temple University (journalism) and Central Michigan University (administration). She enjoys almost all kinds of music (except hip-hop), theater, reading, cooking, canasta and being with friends. Bobbie is a member of Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park, where she served on the board for many years, and of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit. She and Joe have three grown children, two who live in Southwest Detroit and one in New Jersey. Alas the New Jersey daughter is the one with the two granddaughters!To learn more about the Centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s passing, please click on the photos above. This holy day for people of the B’hai faith was celebrated in Haifa, Israel. Our wonderful women of WISDOM who participated in the Parliament of the World’s Religions earlier in November: Delores Lyons, Mary Gilhuly, Shama Mehta, Paula Drewek, and Gail Katz. MINDFULNESSSince the beginning of COVID, Sally Shore-Wittenberg, the Spiritual Leader of the Kerhonkson Synagogue, has facilitated groups interested in the learning and practice of Jewish mindfulness meditation. She would very much like to learn how other faith-based traditions teach mindfulness and possibly bring people together weekly to teach and learn and meditate together. She can be contacted at Shorewit@icloud.com. |