Viewpoints
The Viewpoints Committee celebrates the rich diversity of the Jewish community. Viewpoints presents a wide variety of programs that help the congregation grow and learn together about different segments of our family, especially the interfaith, Jews of color, and the LGBTQ communities. These programs involve speakers, films, readings, and performance artists who hail from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. The one recurring program that Viewpoints sponsors is our Pride Shabbat in June. At that Shabbat service, there are special readings and speakers that highlight the LGBTQ Jewish experience.
The Viewpoints Committee offers a variety of films and speakers to the Temple Emeth community.
As part of our efforts to raise awareness of the minority, LGBTQ, disabled, and interfaith communities, the Viewpoints Committee sponsors a program of DEI groups. The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) groups are small discussion groups, whose purpose is to enable us to understand how others experience life at Temple Emeth. Reading and assessment materials are used to facilitate the discussions.
Programs for 2024-25
Introduction to LGBTQ+ Jewish History
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Viewpoints is sponsoring a program from the organization, Keshet, a group representing LGBTQ+ Jews. Rabbi Lonnie Kleinman, Associate Director of Education and Training for Keshet, will speak on Introduction to LGBTQ+ Jewish History and Belonging for Loved Ones and Allies.
Disability Shabbat
February 28, 2025
The Viewpoints Committee will sponsor a speaker about the efforts of local groups to provide 
accessibility for the disabled in the community. Previous speakers have included Elizabeth Davis, LCSW, CALA, Founder and Executive Director of The Bright Side Family. The Bright Side Family is a closely affiliated group of non-profit organizations that have been developed in response to the evolving needs of older adults in Teaneck and Bergen County. The organization's mission is to provide affordable housing and support services that respond to the changing needs and preferences of older adults, offer choice, promote dignity and ensure safety and comfort. The Bright Side Family is partnering on the Community Begins at Home project with the Township of Teaneck and Heightened, Independence and Progress. It is being funded by an Inclusive Healthy Communities grant from the Division of Disability Services, New Jersey Department of Human Services.
Shoah Program
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Viewpoints is sponsoring the Israeli film, 999: The Forgotten Girls. This film was adapted into the movie from the book by historian Heather Dune Macadam. This documentary sheds light on a wrenching true story of the nearly 1,000 young Slovak Jewish women, who were asked by their government to do volunteer work. They were instead illegally deported to Auschwitz on what was the first Jewish transport to the Nazi death camp. This movie tells stories of a small group who survived against all odds,
Pride Shabbat
Friday, June 13, 2025
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. Temple Emeth celebrates each year with a special service.
In June 2024, the featured speaker was the Reveramd Dr. Michelle D. White, Vicar of Christ Episcopal Church in Teaneck. She spoke abou ther local efforts to support the rights of the LGBTQ+ Community in Teaneck.
Keep visiting our website for updated information about new programs for 2024-25!
The Viewpoints Committee welcome your suggestions about future programming. Email viewpoints@emeth.org.
Felice Cohen speaks about her book, What Papa Told Me, which tells the story of Felice’s grandfather, Murray Schwartzbaum, whose courage and sheer will to live helped him survive eight different labor and concentration camps in the Holocaust, start a new life in America, and keep a family intact in the aftermath of his wife's suicide.
Members enjoyed an afternoon of laughs when Temple Emeth's Viewpoints Committee presented Fay Jacobs in "Aging Gracelessly: a show by sit-down comic/storyteller." Fay is a Jewish lesbian writer and self-described “sit-down comic.” At the age of 74, she is gathering fans of all ages for her show “Aging Gracelessly: 50 Shades of Fay.” She describes the show as “part laughing at Baby Boomers aging and part charting the history of gay rights and gay marriage.”
