18 | SEPTEMBER 5 • 2024 J
N
T
he Shul Sisters, the country’s first
female cantorial trio, will perform at
Hadassah Greater Detroit’s Judi Schram
Autumn Celebration, to be held at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills on Tuesday,
Sept. 10, from 6-9 p.m.
The event will honor Hadassah Greater
Detroit Past President Nancy Bechek Bluth for
her leadership, dedication and generosity over
the last 25 years. She will receive the 2024 Judi
Schram Woman of Inspiration Award, named
in memory of Hadassah Greater Detroit Past
President Judi Schram, a children’s book author
and speech pathologist.
Hadassah Greater Detroit represents more
than 8,000 members of Hadassah, The Women’s
Zionist Organization of America, in Michigan,
Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“Hadassah is about people, healing and
changing lives in Israel, the U.S. and around the
world,” Bluth said. “I am grateful for this honor
and for the privilege of serving Hadassah along
with so many inspiring women.”
Bluth has served as region president,
Midwest resource chair, National Presidential
Development co-chair and on a variety of
national committees. She has also received
Hadassah’s National Leadership Award. She
currently sits on several committees, including
those overseeing national strategic planning
and governance. As region president, she
focused on leadership training, which she
offered to Hadassah volunteers all over the
country. She and her husband, Larry, have been
generous supporters of the Hadassah Medical
Organization, Hadassah’s nonprofit medical
center in Israel, and Youth Aliyah, Hadassah’s
program for at-risk children in Israel.
Judi Schram, for whom the Hadassah Greater
Detroit Autumn Celebration is named, had
a zest for life that permeated every activity,
from preschool speech pathologist to active
community volunteer, from philanthropist to
blogger of travel and life, published author,
poet, painter and president of Hadassah
Greater Detroit. Throughout her battle with
cancer, she retained her optimistic and realistic
perspectives on life and love, continuing to
observe life’s vagaries as she and her husband,
Brad, traveled around the world. Five of
Schram’s 20 children’s books have been
published, and her painted and fabricated
mosaics adorn the homes of her many friends.
The Shul Sisters, cantors Laurie Akers
(Congregation Or Shalom, Chicago), Rachel
Brook (Anshe Emet Synagogue, Chicago) and
Rachel Goldman (Congregation Beth Yeshurun,
Houston), believe in music’s capacity to lift
women’s voices and remind us of our inherent
worth.
They have performed at the Women 4 Joe
Inauguration celebration with Mayim Bialik in
2021 and the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s 2022
Humanitarian Awards Gala featuring President
George W. Bush. Cantor Akers’ song “Stand
Strong” has served as the anthem for numerous
social justice programs nationwide, and her
compositions can be found in numerous Jewish
liturgical anthologies. Cantor Brook, the first
female senior cantor in her congregation’s
150-year history, performed on Live with
Carnegie Hall: Be the Light. Cantor Goldman
has been featured in the Houston Symphony,
the Houston Opera Chorus and the Los Angeles
Jewish Symphony.
The co-chairs of the event are Mimi
Markofsky and Allison Berlin. The event
includes a silent auction, event presentation and
concert, which will be live-streamed.
Tickets at $136 (in person) and $54 (online)
can be reserved any time by calling the
Hadassah Midwest office at (248) 683-5030.
First female cantorial trio in U.S. to perform at Hadassah
Greater Detroit’s Judi Schram Autumn Celebration.
JN STAFF
OUR COMMUNITY
Hadassah Welcomes
the Shul Sisters