Meet Bert Weiss
Profile by Annie Hoyer
Who crafted the painted glass window over BHC’s entrance door? Artist Amy Laskin and BHC's glass artist Bert Weiss, who has not only had a long career as a glass artist, but also worked as a daycare teacher, a cook, and a licensed health insurance agent specializing in Medicare.
Burt Weiss is the artist behind the stained glass window in the sanctuary
Bert Weiss was raised in Pittsburgh. Both sets of grandparents lived 4 doors apart in Squirrel Hill, a largely Jewish neighborhood (unfortunately made famous by the Tree of Life Massacre in 2018.) Bert grew up going to his paternal grandparents for Shabbat dinner every Friday night and to maternal grandparents every Sunday night. He was Bar Mitzvahed at Temple Sinai and joined a Jewish fraternity. “My social life was with Jews,” he said. But after he arrived at Northeastern in 1968, “I didn’t pay much attention to the Jewish piece.” He became a student anti-war activist, and left Boston in 1971. After a cross-country trip, he moved to a hippie commune in Kingston NH.
Bert is an outgoing man. Some big turning points in his life came about because of a conversation with a stranger. He aspired to become a self-employed craftsman, and he met a man who told him all he needed to make a stained-glass window was a glass cutter, a knife, a pair of pliers, and a soldering iron. He decided to give it a go. He eventually studied at Haystack and Pilchuck Schools, and today he knows more about glass than most everybody. His focus has been on kiln-cast glass, painting on glass, and kiln building. He did innovative work adapting kiln-fired china paints to paint on glass. The BHC panel is a good example. It was funded by the Gan Gila class parents (BHC’s religious school) in 2000, after fellow student Isaac Rader lost his father.
While in Kingston, he met a Vista Volunteer who had studied the town and realized it needed a daycare center. Bert helped get it going and became a teacher, training on the job. After two years, he spent another two years at a newly opened daycare center in Exeter. Both centers are still operating over 50 years later.
“I’ve always lived on a limited budget,” Bert said, “so I know how to live simply and stretch my money.” To augment his income, for 19 years, he worked as a cook one or two months a year at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Penobscot Bay, ME. It was a natural foods kitchen, a novel concept at the time but essentially serving the diet recommended now. These days, Bert has a hobby of collecting and grinding ancient grains to make flour and making pizza in a wood-fired pizza oven.
After the economic crash of 2007, as money got thin, Bert went to a job fair and was drawn to a fellow who told him to go home and google Aflac. What came up was Ethisphere Magazine, which named Aflac the most ethical corporation on the planet. He jumped in. He soon switched to Obamacare, then became a licensed agent for Medicare, covering all of NH and ME. “If you aren’t confused by Medicare, you aren’t paying enough attention,” he declared. “Everyone has a different set of circumstances. Usually, I can tell clients what is the best fit or lay out some options.” Clients don’t have to pay for this service.
Bert has been married to Suzie Laskin, a realtor, for 28 years (Amy Laskin, who painted the art glass above BHC’s door, is Suzie’s sister). His relationship prior to meeting Suzie was with a woman whose father was a Unitarian minister. Going to church with her opened his eyes to the significance of Jewish practices. One year, he took her to Yom Kippur services. She had suffered an injury at work, and her employer didn’t have workman’s comp. Collection notices were starting to come in. Her employer was at those services, and right afterward he took care of her medical bills. This experience “sealed the deal for me,” he said, “for it drove home the real substance of Judaism.” When that romance ended, he said to himself, “I’m going to find a Jewish girl.” He answered a personal ad and Bert and Suzie have been together since.
Bert is recording secretary on the BHC board. He was a founding member of Chavurah HeHarim in the Mount Washington Valley, and for many years led a once-a-month worship service. He had a CD of a Rabbi Hillel Katzir, who was first a Cantor, singing his Kabbalat Shabbat songs, as well as the prayer booklet that accompanied them. He made this into a power point. That way, he could lead responsive readings in English, then click on the icon and the Rabbi would sing in Hebrew. The service was about 60% Hebrew. Bert doesn’t understand Hebrew, but he said, “Listening to Hebrew being sung is like looking at abstract art. I know what I feel like when I hear it.”
Last year Bert spent 3 months in Israel, his first visit. He attended the big demonstrations, which were only 3 blocks from where he was living. At one demonstration, he was sitting watching the event beside a woman and he struck up a conversation. She surprised him with an invitation to her family Passover Seder. So, he got to be a stranger at a seder table in Jerusalem! Once again, Bert’s gregarious nature and a spontaneous conversation led him in an unexpected direction.