West Hartford woman chants her 198th haftorah

By Cindy Mindell

Gloria Bein was honored by the Jewish
Historical Society of Greater Hartford (JHSGH) in May 2012.

WEST HARTFORD – Gloria Bein is a sort of path-breaker. Twenty-five years ago, she chanted her first haftorah. Next month, the nonagenarian will recite her 198th – and she has every intention of reaching 200…and beyond.

Bein has worked to create a rich Jewish life since leaving her Orthodox family in Brooklyn at the age of 19, and moving with her husband, Irving, to the heavily Catholic Willimantic. Facing down antisemitism, Bein’s work with local seniors earned her respect and, eventually, a Key to the City award.

During World War II, she trained with the Red Cross and worked in a local hospital that had seen most of its medical staff leave for the military. She is among a dozen Hartford-area women included in the documentary film, Pride, Honor & Courage: Jewish Women Remember World War Two, produced by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford.

The Beins moved to West Hartford in 1974 and joined Congregation Tikvoh Chadoshoh in Bloomfield.

“I think that I really became so zestful about Judaism because it was missing to me and because of the fact that I had it earlier in my life,” she says. “It was a void. The first thing my husband did was to go to the Judaica store and buy me a Jewish star because then I could wear it without any worry, any anxiety or any resentment. And that was very important.”

At Tikvoh Chadoshoh, Bein would again become a pioneer, joining the first adult b’nai mitzvah class led by Rabbi Hans Bodenheimer. “I had always wanted to become a bas mitzvah but in my day, girls didn’t do that,” says Bein. The group of women, and Irving Bein, studied for two years and shared a haftorah at the resulting ceremony. But the effort was one of memorization, not true learning.

“I thought, ‘This is intellectual dishonesty; I want to know the trope,’” Bein recalls. “So I studied 20 minutes a day for four months and learned to sight-read and began my haftorah adventure.”

On Nov. 9, a week before her 93rd birthday, Gloria will chant her 198th haftorah at the Emanuel Temple in West Hartford.

Bein is involved at the two synagogues, attending B’nai Tikvoh Sholom on Friday night and Emanuel on Saturday, as well as most events at both. She has long organized cultural events at Emanuel, and initiated the joint Sisterhood meeting between Emanuel and Beth El Temple in West Hartford some 35 years ago.

“There’s so much to say about Gloria,” says Francene Weingast, former Emanuel lay leader and current volunteer who has known Bein for 30 years. “She’s an amazing woman, she is a role model for women and for people in general who want to keep learning and growing. She is a strong supporter of our minyan and is always looking after people, remembering people’s birthdays and anniversaries, sending get-well cards.”

Bein’s involvement at Emanuel extends beyond the sanctuary. She has also taken on responsibility for organizing the display cases outside the Emanuel sanctuary, changing out the artifacts and collectibles from community members every few months. In addition, she coordinates programming for the local Hadassah chapter and long ran a local chavurah, hosting holiday celebrations at her home.

She stands for every Kaddish, Weingast says, “because that is her tradition. Gloria is a real community person.”

In addition to the mental challenge of preparing a haftorah, Bein chants to commune with God and to get closer to her late father, who was a ba’al tefilah (prayer leader) in Brooklyn.

“He had a very beautiful voice, like a chazzan, even though he was a lay person,” Bein says. “I retained the Ashkenazic pronunciation because I hear my father’s voice and if I switched to the Sephardic pronunciation, I wouldn’t be able to hear him.”

Bein has chanted a few haftorot outside her two synagogues, at family celebrations and at senior centers. Some portions, she’s done five or six times. Does she have a favorite?  “There’s no such thing as a favorite because they’re all holy to me,” she says. “I feel almost ethereal when I get up to do it; I feel a communion with the Jewish religion.”

And Bein doesn’t get jittery as she reaches the bimah. “I’m thanking God that I’m able to do the haftorah, so why should I feel nervous or judged?” she says. Rather, “people tell me that they’re inspired, especially women. They come to me and say, ‘Because you have done it, I want to also,’ and that’s very good because then there’s more participation in the synagogue.”

Bein crept into Torah territory one year, devoting an entire summer to study. “But I found the different trope very confusing,” she says. “I usually accept all challenges, but I decided not to go through this tension or stress, and leave it to younger people.”

Like a runner who has found her ideal racing distance, Bein will stick with haftorah. “I’ll go as long as I can,” she says, and is sure to reach and even surpass number 200.

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.