Mollie L. Berch Library

The Mollie L. Berch library plays a major role in our synagogue’s efforts to enhance understanding of Jewish beliefs and holiday celebrations, provide information for life cycle events and practices, increase spirituality, promote lifelong reading and learning about Judaism, and provide access to sacred texts in English and Hebrew. Our library serves our congregants, their children, school faculty, clergy and staff.

We have upwards of 7,000 volumes, with strong emphasis on:

• Bible commentary
• Biographies and memoirs
• Children’s books
• US History
• Fiction, including Israeli novels and short stories, in English
• History (U.S. and world)
• The Holocaust
• Women’s studies

We also have more narrow collections in the following areas:

• Cookbooks
• Jewish art
• Lifecycle
• Meditation, Mysticism, Kabbalah
• Mysteries
• Poetry
• Sports
• Yiddish works in translation

Unlike some large synagogue libraries that are locked, the TI Library is open all the time and any TI member may check out a book including on Shabbat (the process does not involve writing or electronics). Most of our holdings can be found in the TI Library Catalog. Take a look by clicking here!

A few things to note:

BOOK RETURNS: If you borrowed books from the library, please bring them back. There is a returns shelf on the right, immediately as you enter the library.

DONATIONS: People are generous and often want to donate books to the library. Before bringing books to the synagogue, please contact the librarian to make sure the library has the capacity to accommodate more books.

GIVEAWAYS: If you have a Jewish-themed book or two that you want to give away, you can put them on the giveaway shelf next to the elevator on the first floor.

From Jeri Roth Lande:  In the fall of 2022, I took over as the Mollie L. Berch Librarian when Michele Sumka retired after many years of service.  I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of both Michele and Mollie Berch, the library's founder and longtime librarian.

If you are interested in helping out in the library, please contact me.  I am also open to ideas on how to make the library more useful to everyone.  TI members can contact me by looking up my information in the membership directory.

Thank you Michele!

Michele Sumka ran TI’s Mollie L. Berch Library for over a decade. The library, a remarkable resource for a synagogue the size of TI, is the legacy of the eponymous Mollie L. Berch herself, who started, built and ran it for many years. A year before her death in 2011 Mollie asked Michele to help in the library. Lacking experience but loving both reading and Mollie, Michele agreed. That soon turned into taking the reins herself, with the assistance of a committee.

Michele tried to run the library in a manner that honors Mollie’s vision and priorities. At points in the past the library has had some paid assistants but the budget for that is gone, and Michele--a volunteer herself--did the work together with other volunteers. For several years she was helped most by Diana Zurer.

The library has an acquisition budget funded by contributions, often made in someone’s honor. Because the library has reached its space limit, difficult but important de-accession decisions are necessary. Worn out and less used books must be cleared to make space for new ones. Michele enjoyed the challenge of organizing the collection, rearranging books for maximum accessibility and ease of browsing.

Many congregants are unaware that the library catalog is accessible via the synagogue website. One of the librarian’s jobs is to keep the catalog updated. A good library doesn’t just happen. Thank you, Michele, for your service to TI.

- Abbreviated from an article by Jared Garelick, May 2022 Menorah