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Makom Torah - A Place of Torah

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Cantor Rochelle Helzner & Dr. Herman J. Flax Honored as "Bride and Groom of Torah".........posted Sep 12, 2009

Two individuals who have been connected to Tikvat Israel for a combined 45 years have been selected as the 2009 "Kallat Bereshit" and "Chattan Torah" and will be feted by the synagogue community on Simchat Torah.

Rochelle Helzner, left, the synagogue's cantor since fall 1984, and Dr. Herman J. Flax, right, one of the most loyal and dedicated financial backers of the synagogue for almost two decades, will be honored with special aliyot during the Torah service on Simchat Torah on Sunday, October 11. A luncheon in their honor will follow the service in the TI Social Hall. (Reservations for a lunch seat must be made by contacting the synagogue office in advance of the holiday.)

Literally "the bride and groom of the Torah," the honors as "Kallat Bereshit" and "Chattan Torah," respectively, are accorded each year to two TI members or staff members who have made major contributions to the synagogue's spiritual, educational and or cultural life.

Cantor Helzner will be honored again in 2010 as a celebration of her Silver Jubilee at Tikvat Israel. The principal event of the special anniversary will be the annual Cantor's Concert on May 2. She will be joined in performance by members of her family, including sister Robyn Helzner and the Robyn Helzer Trio.

Dr. Flax, who prefers to go by his middle name Jacob, joined Tikvat Israel (then Beth Tikva) in 1991 with his wife Melanie Grishman. Ironically, they were led to become members after hearing Helzner perform at a Jewish Folk Arts Festival with her sister.

In the years since, Flax has become a major contributor to so many important causes at Beth Tikva and now Tikvat Israel, including the annual Chai Campaign. He provided a major gift to dedicate the resource library in the school wing, which now bears his name. He purchased numerous books on Jewish themes for the facility and donated his extensive personal collection as well. He has been a regular at Friday morning minyans since 1995.

Flax also provided a major gift to TI's M'kom Torah Fund and committed an additional gift to make the sanctuary bimah accessible to all. The latter has long been a personal cause for him. Soon after Flax joined TI, his wife recalls, he delivered a D'var Torah that exhorted the congregation to make the bimah fully accessible. That goal is expected to come to fruition in late fall, according to TI President Sam Freedenberg.

Flax retired in 1994 from the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after previously serving as an administrator at the VA Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he also operated a private practice in physical medicine and rehabilitation, his specialty.

Helzner has served the Tikvat Israel/Beth Tikva community since joining the clergy at our synagogue in the fall of 1984. She was the first female cantor in a Conservative congregation in the Washington area.

Since her appointment, she has inspired congregants and the wider community through her davening, teaching and mentoring. Under her leadership, the congregation has established many programs that continue to fulfill the musical, educational and spiritual needs of the community. Among them are our innovative Yachad services for parents and students grades 3-7, the student-to-student b'nai mitzvah tutoring and a joint Thanksgiving sing with members of a Presbyterian church in Silver Spring.

Helzner graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers University with a degree in music, theater and art. She and her husband, Robert Agus, live in Chevy Chase.

"It's a thrill to honor Cantor Helzner and Dr. Flax at Simchat Torah this year, but it is really they who honor us," said Freedenberg  "Their many contributions to the life of our synagogue are incalculable, and, individually, their sheer presence-on the bimah, in synagogue events, in study and in prayer-inspires everyone at Tikvat Israel.  Yasher koach to Rochelle and Jacob."