Posted on January 15, 2020
Sisterhood Woman of Valor 2019-20: Jodi Siegal
Sisterhood held its annual Woman of Valor dinner on Dec. 19, 2019, honoring Jodi Siegal. Approximately 50 Sisterhood members attended the dinner to honor Jodi, whose commitment to community is evidenced by her many activities at TBE since becoming a member in 2000.
Jodi is a TBE board member, a spirituality counselor on the Oversight Committee, Ritual Committee member and the oneg coordinator. She also has served on the Social Action Committee and the now-defunct Family Programming Committee. Jodi also coordinates the annual TBE Blood Drive, which this year will be conducted on Sunday, March 22.
“I believe in community,” Jodi said. “You’ve got to be part of your community. I think there’s a niche for everyone. I’ve always been active in the Jewish community wherever I’ve been.”
Jodi grew up in California and attended religious school at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. “Temple instilled in me the value of being part of a Jewish community,” Jodi said.
After attending college in Utah, where she met her future husband Oscar, Jodi returned to California and then moved to Mexico for a decade with Oscar before they came east to Massachusetts, where Oscar completed his Ph.D. The couple now lives in Bridgewater and has two grown children on the West Coast, Joshua and Hannah.
Jodi says she is honored to be Sisterhood’s Woman Of Valor and is focused on her next set of goals — broadening TBE’s volunteer base by helping fellow congregants find their niche for activities.
“I really respect and admire the women of our congregation who give so much of themselves in many ways,” Jodi said.
The Woman Of Valor event is an annual highlight on the Sisterhood calendar. The event for Jodi featured a delicious and plentiful Italian dinner catered by Alfonso’s in Hillsborough, with desserts provided by Sisterhood members. As part of the special evening, Sisterhood collected contributions in Jodi’s honor, for Safe + Sound of Somerset County (formerly the Women’s Resource Center). Sisterhood matched all donations, dollar for dollar.
Sisterhood thanks Jodi for all she has contributed over the years and all she continues to do, in her devoted and loving way, for Temple Beth-El and the greater community.
Originally published in the January-February 2020 issue of the Shofar. For more issues of the Shofar, visit the Shofar archives.
