Mazal tov to our Simhat Torah honorees, Joyce Gottlieb and Belle Yoeli
As we mark the end of the year’s Torah reading cycle, we also recognize the contributions of two community leaders with the honor of reading the final verses of this cycle (this honor is called Kallat/Hatan Torah) or the very first verses (Kallat/Hatan Bereshit) of the next.
This year, we are thrilled to honor Joyce Gottlieb and Belle Yoeli by naming them the Kallat Torah and Kallat Bereshit, respectively.
Mazal tov to Joyce and Belle!
Joyce Gottlieb
Joyce Gottlieb “stumbled” onto BJ on Yom Kippur in 1991, and never left. Joyce is known by many as a Daily Minyan Zoom Gabba’it, and our production staff has named her an honorary member of the AV team. A regular part of the weekly Zoom davening team, Joyce has identified and recruited responders, who co-lead each service. Joyce also serves as a primary touchpoint for minyan participants, providing support and helping to build “siddur literacy.” A number of distant members on Zoom have attributed their decision to join as BJ members to Joyce. Additionally, Joyce has been a long-time proofreader of the BJ Weekly Community Email.
Throughout her BJ tenure, Joyce has been a member of the Hevra Kadisha and Bikkur Holim Committees, providing outreach shloshim and holiday calls to members. She has also served on the former Arts and Culture and Panim El Panim Committees. More recently, Joyce is a part of the New Member Outreach Team, and a co-host for the Connections Committee. Her hobbies include collecting Jewish holiday and medical cartoons. She enjoys Hebrew and Israeli music, and studies regularly in several BJ classes. Joyce completed her doctorate, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, whose work has entailed supervising health care chaplains and helping them obtain their board certification. Her clinical interests include psychiatric social work, medical advocacy, aging, and palliative and end-of-life care.
Belle Etra Yoeli
Belle Etra Yoeli grew up in the BJ community, which has always been a central part of her family’s Jewish life. BJ was formative to Belle’s Jewish experience—from early memories of children’s services to meaningful teen programming, including service trips to New Orleans and Mexico. She became a bat mitzvah at BJ, and her love of singing made learning Torah trope and leading prayers an experience that deepened her connection to Jewish ritual. Since 2013, Belle has served as a hazzanit during the High Holy Days in BJ’s adult, family, and Aviv services. Belle is the Chief Strategy and Communications Officer at the American Jewish Committee (AJC). She lives on the Upper East Side and is a proud aunt to five wonderful nieces and nephews.