As they celebrate 25 years with Congrega- tion Beth Shalom,
Alicia and David Nelson are poised for great times ahead.
JULIE EDGAR News Editor
fter David Nelson proposed to
her, Alicia Rhodes leapt the
steps of her Greenwich
Village apartment and shut
the bedroom door behind
her.
Standing in front of a
mirror, she asked herself
if her fate was truly to be
a rabbi's wife. The answer didn't come.
Her deep ambivalence led her to the late
Rabbi Morris Adler of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, who told her that she "wasn't marry-
ing a job, she was marrying a man."
"He was lying through his teeth," Alicia
laughs, 33 years later.
Today, she might be sitting in the front
row of the sanctuary at Congregation Beth
Shalom signalling her husband that his ser-
mon is dragging, or encouraging someone to
stand up and share his good news with the
congregation, or acting as usher in the sanc-
tuary. She is also a paid teacher in the syna-
gogue's religious school.
The Nelsons' partnership comes so natu-
rally to them, any discussion of what appears
as their co-leadership of Oak Park's only
Conservative shul causes them to pause and
look at each other for help.
"It's really more of a reflection of who we
are as a couple," Alicia says finally. "We oper-
ate very much as a team."
"Alicia is my friendly, live-in critic," Rabbi
Nelson quips. He always gets her input on
his sermons, and defers to her if she tells him
to cut it short or skip it altogether.
"Our marriage survives because of the way
we encounter problems in life," she says. "We
have an advantage most of our friends don't
have, because we can work and exercise
together (the Nelsons do aerobics together
every morning)."
This weekend, Beth Shalom will celebrate
a quarter-century with the Nelsons and its
first major expansion and renovation. The
"Rededication and Dedication" ceremonies
begin tomorrow, with a special Shabbat ser-
vice in which the Nelsons will be called to
read from the Torah and the youth choir will
perform. Kiddush will be a stand-up lunch at
the shul. A dinner dance will be held in the
newly-renovated social hall of Beth Shalom
tomorrow night. Rabbi Henry Sosland,
Rabbi Nelson's brother-in-law, will be the
guest speaker and the Ann Arbor-based
Klezmer Fusion Band will perform.
Liz Schubiner, the co-chairperson of the
event, expects a turnout of around 300.
The festivities mark a new era in Beth
Shalom's history. Close to 70 percent of the
congregation contributed to the capital fund-
raising campaign — a phenomenal response,
Schubiner says — and today, the synagogue
is only $160,000 away from the $2 million
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1997
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