Rosalie and Ben Harris, St. Johnsbury, VT

In February 2012, Rosalie and Ben Harris celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary and Ben's 99th birthday, on the same day. Although they don't "go out" as often these days, the couple enjoyed a birthday gathering with a dozen friends at a local restaurant, and the local newspaper, the Caledonian-Record, ran their photo. 

Considering how often the two Harrises had their photos and names in the St. Johnsbury newspaper over the past 63 years, it was about time another photo got printed! Even into his 90s, Ben often made the "Community" pages, as did Rosalie; in 2009 the two of them were statewide news, as word arrived that "The Vermont Community Foundation is proud to announce Ben and Rosalie Harris as the 2009 David G. Rahr Community Service Award recipients." As part of the award, the couple specified a community group to receive a $2,500 grant from the VCF, and they chose St. J's Kingdom Community Services because, as Rosalie said, "There is an obvious need to feed people who are hungry."

Over the decades, Rosalie and Ben took mostly separate leadership roles: Ben in the business community (he was proprietor of Nate's, a men's clothing store in St. J), and Rosalie with missions that connected to her Canadian nursing degree, a career given up as she crossed into the United States to marry Ben in 1942. In St. Johnsbury after World War II, once their three children were in school, Rosalie helped establish the county's Home Health Agency and developed a lasting volunteer relationship at the region's hospital.

(Image of Nate's envelope courtesy of Dave Kanell.)

It was a long journey from the start of each one's life -- Ben as a child in the railroad town of St. Albans (his father Hyman was born in Russia, his mother Yetta in Austria), and little Rosalie Goldstein of Montreal, sharing with her sister the care of the family's apartment and household, resilient during the Depression but feeling deeply the death, when Rosalie was seven, of their mother.

Inevitably, as Jews who treasured the traditions and celebrated each holiday, savored traditional foods, and welcomed guests into their home, the Harrises filled essential roles in the Beth El congregation. Rosalie's story is told in some detail in the 2009 book To Life! A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women, a project of the Vermont Jewish History Project. In fact, Rosalie's face is on the cover shown here, at the center of the top row.

But the way that Rosalie and Ben took part at Beth El was multilayered, loyal, and constant, even as Ben's mobility diminished. Their willingness to be public faces of traditional Judaism in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont continues to be an asset to the Jewish community. But here, from Congregation Beth El: A History With Recipes of the Jewish Community in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, is another insight into how they shaped the community's growth:

For many years [1949-1981], High Holiday services were conducted by student rabbis, most of whom only stayed with Beth El for a year or two. Their letters fill a thick looseleaf notebook with evidence of their earnest efforts, charm, and affection. Often these young leaders stayed with local residents, and members took turns feeding them. It was another way in which community emerged and thrived.

         The official list in the blue loose-leaf binder kept by Ben Harris begins in 1948 with Rabbi Milton Richman of Scranton, Pennsylvania. . . .  The student rabbis were always addressed as “Rabbi” when they came to Beth El. Although they came from all over the country, and even from Quebec, they seemed to retain a fondness for their time in Vermont. Often they wrote to share their lives’ accomplishments: Rabbi Herbert Rose, writing 20 years after his 1951 time at Beth El, sent family photos and described a book he’d written on a Jewish philosopher, A. D. Gordon. Rabbi Milton Schlager, the 1952 student rabbi, settled in South Carolina in 1982 after his years in Mississippi. Rabbi Sydney Hoffman (1953 at Beth El) became the only U.S. military Jewish chaplain in the United Kingdom, in Alconbury, England; in 1969, Rabbi Herbert Bronstein recalled his 1954 season in Vermont, writing, “I have very vivid memories of the [Ben and Rosalie] Harris household and my wonderful stay in St. Johnsbury.”  

Soon the congregation added a building of its own and steady leadership, including a monthly lay leader visit (from Julius Lester) but still depending on members to lead services two to three times per month, and Ben and Rosalie served on the board and its committees for decades, and attended almost every Shabbat and holiday service, steadily corresponding with members and guests who'd moved on, bringing their greetings "home."

Many long-time Beth El members moved South for a gentle retirement. Ben and Rosalie stayed in St. Johnsbury instead, and kept the community gentler through their presence.