Ideas

March 20, 2025 | Third Thursday Thoughts
Dawn LaRochelle, Executive Director

Not gonna lie: my blog posts are my self-made, built-in platform to brag on my kids. But hey, how can I not claim bragging rights when my middle son, Peter, is single-handedly responsible for the new burrito bar at the Haverford College cafeteria?!

Here’s how it went down: Haverford created a suggestion box for the cafeteria and encouraged students, faculty, and staff to give them their ideas for improving food service. Most students didn’t bother submitting anything because they assumed their ideas would be tossed. But Peter, now a swaggering college senior, was undaunted. He put in a request for a burrito bar, explaining that it was something almost universally appealing, filling enough to satisfy the college athletes who make up over half the student body, flexible enough to accommodate different dietary needs and allergy concerns (tofu or mushrooms in lieu of beef for vegetarians, gluten-free tortillas for the gluten-sensitive, etc.), and inexpensive to execute. And (drumroll)… the Director of Food Service agreed and gave it his stamp of approval!

When Peter, over (non-Haverford) burritos during a recent visit, proudly announced how he had “made his mark on the school,” I half-jokingly opined Haverford should officially name it the “Peter LaRochelle Burrito Bar.” But Peter, my decidedly non-religious son, reminded me with a twinkle in his eye that “the Talmud tells us matan b’seter – giving anonymously – is the highest form of charity.” Those steep day school, Hebrew school, and bar mitzvah training fees? Worth every penny just for that one glorious rejoinder! Psst – they are listening and absorbing, even when we think they’re completely tuned out.

Like Peter, I’m an idea person. Some would say a crazy idea person. As in, like Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy, when I get “that look” on my face, my family, friends, and colleagues morph in modern-day Ethels dreading “those four horrible words” (“I have an idea!”). But every so often, those crazy ideas have wings. Take Shalom & Shamrocks: An Irish-Jewish Corned Beef Feast , our first collaborative program with the  Maine Irish Heritage Center earlier this month. What started out as a “what if” email to Eric Brown, the Irish Heritage Center Executive Director, over a year ago turned into a sold-out and wildly successful community-centric event. We’re talking handmade kosher Irish and Jewish corned beef (with all the St. Patrick’s Day and Jewish deli sides and fixings, plus Guinness beer and Dr. Brown’s mocktails), a delightful throwback to the immigrant heyday of 1912 via Tin Pan Alley’s “If It Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews” , an Irish step dancing performance courtesy the Stillson School of Irish Dance, a dinner hour presentation on Maine’s Irish and Jewish immigrant heritage by retired USM professor Dr. Eileen Eagan, and a decadent dessert display, including black-and-white cookies and Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting! We even made the Society Page of the Portland Press Herald. We plan to make this an annual occurrence – mark your calendar for Sunday, March 8, 2026.

And when, with my passion for fashion, I wondered aloud if we could ever get it together to have a mission-driven fashion show at the Museum, I unwittingly birthed Fashion, Food, and Fun(d)raiser: A Celebration of Our Diverse Community, where for two years running, dozens of Jewish, immigrant, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled models and designers dazzled 200+ attendees with tour de force runway shows in our century-old synagogue building. The ripple effect of this bridge-building event continues, as this Instagram reel by Black-Jewish design icon Elisheva Rishon, whom we were lucky enough to snag as our Keynote at our 2024 Fashion Show, attests.

Ultimately, the Maine Jewish Museum, itself is the product of a “crazy idea” hatched when a small group, led by MJM Founding President Jody Sataloff and Founding Executive Director Gary Berenson, banded together to discuss how to save Etz Chaim Synagogue. Etz Chaim’s membership had declined precipitously over the years, and the physical structure of the building had deteriorated – the dropped ceiling above the closed-off third-floor balcony was said to have housed more pigeons than the number of congregants who came to the shul for High Holiday services. Out of this initial meeting, the Tree of Life Foundation was formed in 2006 with the mission of not only bringing the building back to its original condition but also turning it into a Museum… and here we are almost two decades later, the “Little Museum That Could,” going full steam ahead within the renovated walls of a historic synagogue now restored to its former glory.

Our crazy ideas turn into concrete reality thanks to friends and supporters like you. To this end, we hope you will consider joining the  Host Committee or purchasing tickets to our 2025 Maine Jewish Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday, June 8, 3:00 PM – 5:30 PM. Join us to celebrate and honor Leah Binder, Harris Gleckman, Charlie (z”l) and Ellie Miller, Bernard Bill Miller, Edith Pagelson (z”l), Judge Abraham Rudman (z”l),  Judge Louis Scolnik (z”l), and our inaugural Affinity Award recipients Pam and Kevin Rhein and ensure we can actuate the ideas that turn into exhibitions and programs that shine a light on the rich history and diversity of Maine’s Jewish community.

We are now in the Jewish month of Adar, and the Talmud states that “when Adar enters, joy increases.”  May your joy increase and may your crazy ideas bear fruit… or burritos, as the case may be.

Warmly,

Dawn

Dawn LaRochelle
Executive Director