“… doing a Mitzvah … a real blessing”
Even though the calendar will be changed to 2026 on January 1st, we have already celebrated our Jewish new year. This past September we turned over to the new year of 5786. As I was speaking to some non-Jewish friends, they wondered why there was such a large discrepancy. I explained the only way I knew … as my grandmother Sadie used to tell her goyim friends, “our holidays always fall on the same day each year on our calendar, not on your calendar.”
December was a month filled with wonderful events. Religious School classes were bursting at the seams with new children attending even with one date cancelled by a snowstorm. The students made and decorated cookies for the Hanukkah dinner. Speaking of which, it was great to see a large turn-out for the dinner. 74 people attended and Tony had to set up an extra table to accommodate everyone. It was a beautiful sight to see all the menorahs burning bright at each table! A big thank you goes to the Rabbi for leading us in a wonderful sing along of Hanukkah songs. All the people who made wonderful dishes to share and the clean-up crew. The latke making crew expanded this year to include Martin, Jacob, Owen and Mason Copland plus Ben Dillon. It was a lot of fun to make over 400 latkes which were consumed within a half an hour. The sad part is we said a toast to those latkes makers who are no longer with us. Don Novick topped the billing as the father of TJ latkes. We still use his recipe to this day. Steve Feller was missed this year. As a “Physics” guy he would always keep a running total of how many latkes we made over the years and would have a number each year. We also had to toast Steve Eckert. He didn’t make latkes but would spend time in the kitchen filming and shooting pictures for the videos he produced for Temple. All the volunteers who worked hard to pull off this wonderful dinner should be commended for doing a mitzvah… a real blessing!
I know, I know, I mention this every month … but I really believe it! I always keep in the back of my mind that, as a member of Temple Judah, we are all one large family. We come together to celebrate wonderful occasions like Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Bat and Bar Mitzvahs, baby naming’s, conversions, high school graduations and marriages. But we also support those who are ill and sit shiva with our members who have lost loved ones.
Please join the Temple Judah family and do your part and contribute to keeping the flame alive and burning bright. Don’t sit on the outside, looking in. Participate!!
Brian D. Cohen
President