Historical association’s annual meeting features talk on 2 Providence families

The Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association held its 62nd Annual Meeting on April 17 at Temple Beth-El, in Providence. The keynote speaker was Rachael Rosner, Ph.D., who presented part 2 of her talk on the Beck and Temkin families of Providence, “Illuminating the Golden Ghetto.”

Rosner began with a brief summary of part 1, delivered April 1 as part of the Friday night salon series at the Providence Athenaeum. She then went on to discuss three influences on Dr. Aaron Temkin Beck, the founder of cognitive psychotherapy: family, leadership and scholarship.  

Beck was born in Providence into the Temkin/Beck family, which moved to the East Side as part of the vanguard of Jewish families that settled around Temple Emanu-El in the mid-1920s. They brought with them the shtetl mentality that connections between Jewish families gives meaning to a community.  

Leadership was also part of the family culture. Temkin/Beck family members were among the first to join Temple Emanu-El, were on the board of The Miriam Hospital, worked with the Hebrew Free Loan Association, and were involved with the Home for the Aged and many groups such as Hadassah.  

Finally, the Temkin/Beck family embodied a mixture of upward mobility, socialism and scholarship. Many in the family attended Brown University and achieved advanced degrees: Irving, the oldest brother, was chief of medical services at the Providence Lying-In Hospital, Maurice was a social worker and Aaron a psychiatrist. The same upward mobility that allowed the family to move to the East Side also allowed members to help others, including those in  Zionist worker movements.

About 150 people attended the Historical Association meeting, during which the following officers were installed: Ruth Breindel, president; Mel Topf, first vice president; Harold Foster, second vice president; Maxine Goldin, secretary; and David Bazar, treasurer. Members of the board are: Michael Fink, Myrna Levine, Lowell Lisker, Ruby Shalansky, Bailey Siletchnik, Marlene Wolpert, Shai Afsai, Mel Blake, Rabbi Barry Dolinger, Marilyn Myrow, Esta Yavner and presidential appointees Susan Brown and Larry Parness.

The meeting was in memory of David Charak Adelman, the founder of the association, and the lecture was sponsored by the Arline Ruth Weinberg Memorial Fund.  

For more information about the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association, contact us at  info@rijha.com.

RUTH L. BREINDEL is the president of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association and can be reached at info@rijha.org or 401-331-1360.