Temple Beth David to Host Presentation on Life in Israel

Temple Beth David, located at 131518 Antelope Street, Spring Hill, will be holding a presentation on life in Israel on Jan. 28. The meeting, which will be hosted in the social hall, will be free for all who wish to attend, and refreshments will be available. The speaker at the event, Steven Ettinger, will be talking to the gathering over Zoom at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Ettinger is not able to attend in person as he is currently in Israel. Considering the tragedies that are befalling that area of the world, it should be revealing to hear first-hand the daily living conditions in Israel. Elana “Cookie” Goodman, the publicist at Temple Beth David, looks forward to seeing the community come out and show their concern for Israel.

“Everyone is invited,” Goodman said. “We would love to have the community come, whether they are Jewish or not, to watch this program on Zoom.

Israel is our ally. We need to support them. That is the way I feel about it[…] We want people to understand and to get a better idea of what is going on over there.”

The “Sunday Matinee,” which is what these meetings are generally known as, are put together by the Cultural Arts Committee. According to Goodman, Ettinger will specifically be addressing “what is going on in Israel right now and how are people who live in Israel coping with this horror?” During the presentation, attendees will be given the opportunity to pose questions to the former rabbi as well.

Ettinger was born in the United States and his father was a rabbi at a temple in Beverly Hills, Florida, before his passing. Afterward, Steven took over as rabbi in the interim before leaving the States to go to Israel. He then practiced his profession as a tax law specialist during his time there.

According to Temple Beth David’s website, the synagogue was established in 1972 when Hernando was just a small rural county of barely 20,000. As they were “feeling the need to be connected to the Jewish community,” the founders set up a Jewish Social Club. In the early days, the congregation met at the Senior Citizens Center and at members’ homes. As their numbers grew, a permanent location became more necessary for the temple-goers. The current home, known as the Temple Beth David Jewish Center, was finally constructed in 1986 after “years of paper drives, bake sales and other fundraisers.” As the congregation grew, the synagogue added the Forbes Family Sanctuary and other extra rooms in 1998. They were able to hire a part-time Rabbi by 1991 and recently welcomed Rabbi Jen Goldberg in the fall of 2023.

In case anyone was unsure about attending due to safety concerns, Goodman also emphasized in no uncertain terms that there are measures of protection being provided for the congregation. “We will have security,” said Goodman. “We have to have security. We always have security when we have people in our synagogue. It has to be that way.”