A Celebration of Yale Dolginow’s Re-Bar Mitzvah
…and his legacy at Bet Shalom
by Mark Robbins and Beth Dikeman
Mark: I met Yale upon becoming a member of Bet Shalom a year and a half ago. He has been an outstanding friend and mentor. Beth and I are both delighted at this opportunity to learn more about his journey and to share it with our congregation.
Thanks for talking with us, Yale. Please tell us a bit about your background growing up.
I was born and raised in the Kansas City area by outstanding and trailblazing parents and grandparents. My grandparents were from Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, and they came to the US around 1890. My maternal grandparents helped found Kansas City’s Ohev Shalom synagogue, still in existence today. My paternal grandfather helped found Kehilath Israel Synagogue and Kehilath Israel Blue Ridge Cemetery in the Kansas City area. My father, David Dolginow, established himself early in the business community, and my mother, Harriet (Dolly), sang with the choir and served as sisterhood president of Beth Shalom Congregation in Kansas City.
I am the oldest of three children. Our faith foundation and formation were strong; we all attended Hebrew school, were Bar and Bat Mitzvah, and attended Jewish summer camps.
I became one of the first Jewish undergraduates to attend the University of Kansas following a period of anti-Semitic admission policies during the 1950s that had eliminated the Jewish student population there. I helped start both a campus Hillel in 1961 and a Jewish fraternity in 1963. I then met my lovely bride-to-be, Diane Wolf, and we married in 1965. I received a BA followed by an MBA in 1966.
What were the professional and personal landmarks and formative experiences that have helped shape your life’s path?
Following college, I spent three years working for the family business in Kansas City, a retail store called Dolgin’s. After my father’s death in 1968 I became CEO, and our business prospered and grew from one store to eight located in KC and St. Louis. In 1976 the family sold the business to Harold Roitenberg of Minneapolis. Diane and I moved to the Minneapolis area, and I become president of Modern Merchandise, LaBelles. Modern Merchandise was sold, and in 1980, I joined Dayton Hudson Corporation, working directly for Kenneth Dayton and Ken Macke. In 1983, I was recruited by Curt Carlson to run his retail division, which I ultimately sold for him. In 1986, I helped found and served as president and CEO of Paper Warehouse, during which time the company grew from 4 to 195 stores. I attended the Harvard School of Business – OPM Program in 2014 and 2015 at the age of 70. Today I have a management consulting company called Elanstrategic and enjoy working and helping clients move their businesses to the next level.
What role has Bet Shalom played in your overall success in life?
When we moved to Minneapolis, Diane and I could not find one synagogue that corresponded to our differing worship styles, so we initially joined two different congregations, one Conservative and the other Reform. What we really wanted, though, was one faith community that would be our shared spiritual home. So in 1980 we began meeting with three other families to discuss the possibility of establishing a new synagogue, which was the beginning of Bet Shalom.
The continued growth and well-being of Bet Shalom remains a central focus of my life’s work, even as I continue to be inspired and nurtured by our faith family. I’m proud of how our group of founding families collaborated to address concerns and overcome challenges and lay the foundation for the thriving Bet Shalom community that has evolved since. This spirit of perseverance has carried over and born good fruit in my own personal and professional life, for which I am grateful.
Yale, in what other ways have you been involved in the Bet Shalom Congregation?
It has been a great honor to have served Bet Shalom in many capacities over the past 42 years. I have been a Board Member for 42 years and was President for 4 years. I served as the Treasurer for 5 years and Director of Development and Fundraising for 2 years. Currently I co-lead the Small Business Networking Group with Bruce Hoberman.
What inspired you to pursue a second bar mitzvah?
My sights have long been set on pursuing a second bar mitzvah. My intention is to challenge and rededicate myself to my personal faith and my shared religious practice. The date of my second bar mitzvah, January 6, 2024, is especially meaningful to me as it corresponds to the anniversary of my first. Although I’m reading the same Torah and Haftarah portions, the passage of almost 70 years have made my study and preparation a fresh, albeit welcome, challenge.
How has your faith enriched your life over the years?
The synagogues, rabbis, cantors and educators I’ve encountered throughout my life have all taught me, through both word and example, that through our faith we can and will survive. Both my personal faith and my shared religious practice have at various times strengthened, consoled, and enlightened me, making the journey through life more meaningful and rewarding.
Are there any other words of wisdom you’d like to share with the Bet Shalom family?
Bet Shalom’s mission statement, written by Ann Lonstein, said it best:
“Bet Shalom will be a place that will be a family of friends. It will be a place where you will feel a sense of belonging, whether you are an adult or a child. It will be a place where nobody will be lost in the shuffle of numbers. It be a place where our children will learn to know and understand other lifestyles and values as well as they understand their own. It will be a place of involvement—from the rituals on the pulpit to participation in services to dishes in the kitchen. It will be a place where quality is stressed. And finally, Bet Shalom will a place where we will laugh, cry, love, and grieve as we practice together our Judaism.”