Source: http://www.bethambuffalo.org/main.html
The Temple Beth Am family expresses its sympathy to the family members of all those who lost their lives in the crash of Continental Airlines flight 3407. Susan Wehle, Cantor at Temple Beth Am, was on board and one of the 50 who lost their lives.
Cantor Susan Wehle has been serving Temple Beth Am of Williamsville, NY since November of 2002. Prior to that she was the Cantorial Soloist at Temple Sinai (Reconstructionist) of Amherst, NY for 9½ years.
In 2004, Susan received Cantorial Smicha from Aleph – the Movement for Jewish Renewal. She has a Bachelors Degree in Judaic Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Acting from the Goodman School of Drama. She has performed with theatre companies in Buffalo, Chicago and New York City.
Susan has taught musical and spiritual workshops, has conducted youth and adult choirs, and has performed in concerts in the United States, Canada and Israel. She has recently released a CD called “Shirei Refuah v’Tikvah – Songs of Hope and Healing”.
She is the mother of two sons, Jonah and Jake and has two sisters, Eva Friedner and Dana Wehle, and a brother John Wehle.
Temple Beth Am will honor her memory at Erev Shabbat Service tonight, Friday, February 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM. The Service will be led by Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld from Temple Beth Zion, Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein from Temple Sinai, and Cantor Barbara Ostfeld.
Funeral arrangements have not been planned at this moment. Grief counselors from Jewish Family Service will be available for Temple Beth Am members, friends, and the community.
Founded in 1955, Temple Beth Am is a mainstream Reform congregation that prides itself on being a “Family of Families.” The Temple offers a wide variety of religious services and spiritual opportunities to its members and anyone interested in exploring Jewish life. These include Erev Shabbat services, Shabbat morning worship and Torah study, High Holy Day and Festival services, youth-led and family Shabbat services, healing services and more.
Temple's cantor was returning from Caribbean
Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090213/NEWS01/90213027/1002/NEWS
By Dave Andreatta
February 13, 2009
Those who knew her recall Susan Wehle as a person who put others first, and the last text message the 55-year-old mother of two sent before boarding Continental Connection Flight 3407 confirms that opinion.
“If it gets too late text me and I’ll take a taxi,” she wrote at 8:29 p.m. Thursday to Rick Ellis, who had planned to pick up his friend and co-worker at the Buffalo airport.
“That’s the way she was,” said Ellis, the administrator at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville, Erie County, where Wehle had been the cantor since 2002. “She was always thinking of others.”
Wehle had been vacationing in Costa Rica, and was scheduled to take a series of connecting flights through Houston and Newark to arrive home in Buffalo.
The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Wehle was primarily responsible for orchestrating the musical portions of temple services, but routinely went beyond her duties, temple congregants said.
“We thought of her as one of our clergy,” said temple President David Bergash. “She helped run the services, organize hospital visits, bar mitzvahs, bat mizvahs. You name it. She did it.”
Wehle soothed the sick and dying with her music, taught at the temple’s religious school, and two years ago produced a CD of Jewish spiritual music.
“Susan was one of the most brave and brilliant people I had ever met,” said guitarist Gunilla Theander Kester, who accompanied Wehle on the CD. “She had the idea of a CD in her head for years and never gave up on it. She didn’t know the word no in the sense that she knew no limits.”
A steady stream of congregants poured into the temple Friday afternoon. They hugged, cried and told stories of the woman they knew as a fixture at the temple. Her desk in her office was just as she had left it, they said, full of paperwork for projects she had hoped to tackle upon her return.
“Her spirituality, love and kindness for humanity will never be matched,” Ellis said. “The shine in her eyes was just constant.”
A frequent traveler, Wehle had performed in concerts around the country and in Canada and Israel.
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