Member Spotlight: Beth Am Women
beth am women board
In this edition of the Builder we’re shining the Member Spotlight on four members of the board of Beth Am Women - Leslie Airola-Murveit, Julie Roston, Felisa Ihly, and Rita Allen.
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Featuring (from left to right):

Leslie Airola-Murveit, Julie Roston, Felisa Ihly and Rita Allen

This month, we’re shining the Member Spotlight on four members of the board of Beth Am Women (BAW) — Leslie Airola-Murveit, Julie Roston, Felisa Ihly and Rita Allen. While each of these members has a unique story of growing up Jewish (or not), how each found Beth Am, and memories of important and impactful experiences with the congregation, their stories contain common themes of finding and creating smaller communities and connections within our vibrant community. Let’s get to know each of them a little better, and maybe you’ll see something of yourself in their stories.

These engaging leaders are just the tip of the iceberg of the membership of Beth Am Women. Please consider joining them on Sunday, March 6 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM when BAW and The Orchard present guest speaker Molly Dillon. Molly is a policymaker, strategist and co-author of The New York Times bestseller, Yes She Can - 10 Stories of Hope and Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House. This one-hour Zoom event includes a discussion between Molly and Beth Am members Emma Goss and Micaela Hellman-Tincher, followed by Q&A and is open to all, including teens! If you’re interested in learning more about Beth Am in general or BAW in particular, please reach out to Leslie, Julie, Felisa or Rita at bawexec@betham.org.

Leslie has been a member of Beth Am for 25 years and on the BAW Board for the past eight. She is a past president of BAW, and focuses on supporting new members of BAW, helps with the monthly newsletter and plans events, including finding speakers. Leslie was raised a Catholic. She and her husband were members of a conservative synagogue before joining Beth Am. When they found Beth Am as an interfaith family, Leslie immediately felt more at home because of the diversity of the community. She did not feel like there was a “not Jewish” spotlight shining on her at Beth Am because of its warmth and inclusiveness. Leslie’s family participated in Beth Am’s Shabbaton program (Shabbaton was a program offering for families to learn together on Saturday afternoons as an alternative to traditional youth education.) Over the years and largely because of the Shabbaton program, Leslie felt like a “member of the tribe” and completed her conversion with Rabbi Marder and her adult Bat Mitzvah with Rabbi Weissman. A favorite experience was volunteering for 10 Books at Home. This was a one-year tutoring commitment for preschoolers to get them ready for kindergarten. She formed lasting bonds with the other volunteers. BAW motivates Leslie to do more mitzvot because it’s fun to do those things with friends. She finds that being an active part of a small community within Beth Am makes the Beth Am community feel smaller.