By Marc Hurwitz, Tribe Coordinator
The Tribe got its start more than four years ago, and was then known as “The Young Professionals of Temple Beth Sholom.” It was incepted by two young women, Jennifer and Helena (Helena is still with us today, though Jenn sadly moved out of town), who saw the need to form a community of like-minded Jews in their 20s-40s and provide them with networking, social, and spiritual opportunities to explore and connect.
Since then, we have rebranded ourselves as The Tribe, expanded our board – and our membership has gone from the tens to the hundreds, and is constantly growing. In addition to flagship events like “Shabbat on the Beach” (next one is April 30th!) and Vodka Latke, we have expanded our programming to include larger social events at local nightclubs and restaurants, as well as intellectual/spiritual events like our new Jewish Book Club (JBC) (April 11th – we’re reading “People of the Book”).
Recently we have joined forces with the Open Tent, and look forward to continuing to build positive momentum – and our membership! We feel our missions our complimentary, and our partnership will be a win-win for all.
We are really focused on Mitzvah month right now – on April 14 we helped feed the homeless at the Miami Rescue Mission, and on March 21st we’re running (or walking!) the Celebrity 5k, benefitting the Community Partnership for the Homeless.
We think it’s fitting that this is “Mitzvah Month”, as a recent Torah portion related how Moses told the Jews that they had donated enough for the tabernacle being built. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury these days – with so many needs, there is an overwhelming number of ways to do mitzvahs for those less fortunate. May we come to a day when those in need say “enough”, but until then , we have lots of work to do!
If you’d like to get more involved with the Tribe or our Leadership, please send an email to info@thetribemb.org
