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News items about United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute.

Rabbi Joe Klein held the Czech Scroll as a symbol of Jewish survival and persistence

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Three years after its arrival in Terre Haute, the Czech memorial scroll identified as MST #845 helped bridge the generations during a confirmation ceremony in the UHC sanctuary.

As students Ellie Klein, Rachel Seidenberg, David Halpern and Dan Atkins stood by, Rabbi Joseph Klein held the historic scroll from Pardubice and described its significance.

He began, “The Torah scroll that tonight’s Torah portion from Exodus will be read from is a special scroll to our congregation, in the life of our congregation.”

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High Holidays 5782 schedule to begin with Erev Rosh Hashanah services Monday, September 6

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Student Rabbi Matt Derrenbacher will officiate High Holidays services in the sanctuary at United Hebrew Congregation for the New Year 5782, beginning with Erev Rosh Hashanah services at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 6.

All attendees must wear masks and practice social distancing between families or pods. One person or family may use the restroom at one time. Please stay home if ill with any respiratory or gastrointestinal issues. In-person attendance schedule subject to change, according to Vigo County COVID prevalence.

Members may also attend via Zoom conference. To request an invite, contact Betsy Frank, send a Facebook message or use our contact form.

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Dr. Renate Justin surmounts tragedy to share her story In ‘What I Have To Tell: A Memoir’

By Scott Skillman
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From time to time, the Temple receives unsolicited books for review, consideration or for no reason at all. One such book, What I Have to Tell: A Memoir by Renate G. Justin, M.D. (Crystal Publishing, Fort Collins, CO, 2019), caught my eye, as it was credited to a former member of the Terre Haute Jewish community.

In 163 pages, we are informed of a world of pain and how one person chose to rise above it. Our narrator makes clear a person can rise above her circumstances, but that does not necessarily mean she can escape them.

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Dr. Renate Justin met antisemitism with compassion, commitment to ease others’ pain

By Ken Turetzky
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Following an early life of hardship, on the run from Nazis and then facing antisemitism in her adopted home of the United States, Dr. Renate Gabriele Lieberg Justin determined that she would heretofore treat others only with respect and compassion.

While Justin eventually rejected religious faith as insufficient to relieve the burden of tragic experience, she embodied Hillel’s Golden Rule: That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.

Justin wrote, “It is the pain I have experienced because of antisemitism that makes me wary of prejudging other people’s belief, of being intolerant, and thereby inflicting pain.”

Throughout her long career as a family medical practitioner and essayist — including a period from 1959-87 in Terre Haute — Justin observed, considered and wrote thoughtfully about her childhood, her family, her patients and life passages that ranged from gentle to nearly unbearable.

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