 Rabbi Billy Dreskin... grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. His elementary education was acquired at Bond Hill Elementary School,
after which he attended Cincinnati Country Day, then Crest Hills Junior
High, and graduated from Walnut Hills High School. After successfully
de-matriculating from six weeks at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, he attended Brandeis University where he studied music, twice
receiving the Reiner Prize in Music Composition, and graduating in
1980. After two years in New York City pursuing an elusive career in
musical theater, he entered Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in 1982. During his years at HUC-JIR, his musical,
“Personals,” opened off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater (It
featured Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld” and was co-written by his
friends David Crane and Marta Kauffman who have recently finished their
stint as Executive Producers of the hit television series, “Friends.”
You can actually find the show’s poster, with his name listed in the
credits, still hanging in the Minetta’s lobby!). Billy is very happily married to Cantor Ellen Dreskin, and is the proud father of Katie, Jonah (z"l) and Aiden.
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 Cantor Jonathan Gordon...has served as the Cantor at Woodlands Community Temple since 1998, where he contributes to the atmosphere of celebration and participation that is Woodlands’ tradition. Jonathan chants and directs the music of the service with the keyboard and acoustic guitar. Under his leadership are the many choirs and instrumental groups for both adults, teens, and younger students that meet during the year and perform regularly. He directs the Bar and Bat Mitzvah program and individually tutors each candidate.
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 Educator Harriet Levine, RJE...was born and educated in Spring Valley, New York. She attended Cortland State Teachers College (SUNY Cortland) and was graduated from New York University School of Education with a Bachelor of Science in Education. For several years, she taught in public school systems in New York, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as her husband’s work required that the family relocate. Beginning in 1973, she entered the field of Jewish Education and subsequently taught at B’nai Joshua Beth Elohim (Glenview, IL), Temple Anshe Amunim (Pittsfield, MA), Hevreh of Southern Berkshire (Great Barrington, MA), Temple Israel (Westport, CT), and Congregation B’nai Israel (Bridgeport, CT). Additionally, she served as Family Educator of Congregation B’nai Israel and Educator of Mercaz, the Hebrew High School of Norwalk, CT.
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 Youth Director, Ross Glickenhouse
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 Rabbinic Intern, Mara Young
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 A Happy Secular New Year!
We have already celebrated the Jewish New Year together in the tent. Our Jewish New Year is often a time of reflection, when we think about how we’d like to do better for the next year. I often promise myself that I’ll be nicer to husband and children. – But that doesn’t always work out.
So we get yet another chance at the start of the secular New Year. We all make resolutions. We’ll lose weight. We’ll eat more fiber. We’ll exercise – and by Shavuot, we’ll have solid abs and have significantly decreased our Body Mass Index. Most of these resolutions, starting out with the best of intentions, don’t make it till Groundhog Day.
So this year, I’m inviting you to make a new kind of resolution: To resolve to feed your mind and your spirit and connect with your community. You belong to a Temple – but have you come to a Temple program? Or maybe you (like me) go to lots of Temple meetings – but do you do something fun and social?
During the month of January, you will have a great
opportunity to sample a wide variety of Woodlands Events and programs. We’ll have varied Worship experiences available with “A Joyful Noise” on January 8th. For those who would like a grown up family friendly service that ends before bedtime – on January 15th we’ll have a Mishpakha Shabbat. Would you like to enrich your mind? On January 30th we will host our Scholar-in-Residence, Rabbi Jonathan Blake, who will address: Crisis and Catstrophe in Judaism. Many of us enjoyed Rabbi Blake when he taught two adult ed classes last year and it’s great to have this gifted and fascinating teacher back with us for more learning.
Perhaps a relaxing Sunday afternoon is more your style? If so, on January 10th, Donna Chonigman will be teaching an Italian Cooking Class in our kitchen. First of all, I’ve been lucky enough to sample Donna’s cooking and she’s really good (and I have some foodie pretensions) And – I’ve attended several of our cooking classes and it’s a really great way to spend an afternoon, learning, cooking and noshing!
And of course, for those who would like to experience the best in contemporary Jewish Music, there’s our First Annual Jonah Maccabee Dreskin Memorial concert on January 23rd featuring Dan Nichols and Josh Nelson. Having recently seen both again at Biennial, I can assure you that this will be a very special program – which will also support camp scholarships.
So resolve to maybe step out of your comfort zone and try something! Or if you’re a boring meeting attender like me – resolve to try something at Woodlands that’s just for your own enjoyment. So forget about joining that gym!! People wear spandex there! What were you thinking???? Come in, try something, and connect with your community. And let me know how it turns out! You can always reach me at president@wct.org.
B'Shalom ,
Rochelle Stolzenberg
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