Temple News
High Holidays
The calls of the shofarot by Peter Robinson and James Kalivoda began and ended our High Holy Day services as the vibrations filled the room and our souls.
The New Year began with a Shabbat/Rosh Hashana dinner at the Airtel Plaza Hotel with over 50 guests in attendance. It was a lovely intimate evening, "Just like family," said Sam and Charlotte Kadin.
Rabbi Roz lead the services and every eye in the house was riveted on her sermon which included a history lesson on Islam.
Our repetitive words of gratitude begin to sound trite as we thank Roz, Pete, Elaine and James for all they do to make the holidays so special every year, but it is meant from the heart; what you do is so very special.
It was an exceptional year and we have a few other special "Thank You's" to express. Joan and Murray Kurz for dutifully greeting our guests; Joyce Linden for leading and inspiring a wonderful Yom Kippur afternoon discussion on how we identify ourselves: Deaf, Jewish, men, women, teachers, etc. During the discussion, Bess Hyman inadvertently named the title of her next article: "On Wednesdays I'm Deaf and on Fridays I'm Jewish."
Sam Kadin is always the first one to appear at our events to offer his help to carry and set up and this time was no different and it is still so appreciated. Thank you to Joy and David Klein for blowing up balloons for the elderly so they could feel the shofar and also for readying the wine for the break-fast. Thanks to Richard Cato for improving on the Ark he originally built, and getting it to the hotel. Thank you to Patty Drasin for jumping in when needed to interpret. Thank you to all our readers. And even though she couldn't be with us, a big thank you to Jean Greenberg for her behind-the-scenes work collecting all the Yizkor donations, the holiday ads and all the special donations we receive at this time of year. Such a wonderful and willing TBS family we have!
Temple Beth Solomon Dedicates New Torah Cover
Our new Torah cover was introduced at Rosh Hashana services this year. This project was made possible entirely by Shirley and Aaron Kotler in memory of her beloved brother and sister-in-law, Sam and Marion Intrator, who were long-time TBS members. Over a year ago, Shirley approached TBS wanting to contribute something in their memory which was lasting. We were in need of a holiday Torah mantle and the Kotler's agreed this would be a lovely artifact to memorialize Sam and Marion.
We began with a contest. Several ideas were submitted by TBS members and voted upon at the spring membership meeting. The winner: Charles Katz. We then located a textile artist, Patty Pritchett, who lives in Austin, Texas, and gave her our rough design and she developed and crafted the design into the final work which entailed 150 hours from start to finish.
Our New Torah Cover
From the pictures, you get an idea of what it looks like, but you really have to see it for real to appreciate the skill that was required to make it. The Tree of Life is made from a very fine gold silk fabric imported from Pakistan; the edges were all heat sealed and then outlined in heavy gold thread. The Hebrew word chai is inset into the trunk of the tree to give it a carved appearance. The tree was then stitched onto cream colored silk that was appliquéd to the velvet.
The hands holding the scroll represents the sign for torah and are done in a trapunto style, which is a quilted, stuffed process, giving it a 3-D, raised look. The outside set of hands are embroidered more heavily than the inside set, giving the illusion of movement. The idea for the trapunto style came from our Shabbat Torah cover donated by the Aheroni family many years ago. On our Shabbat Torah cover the hands show the sign for life and we wanted to keep that sign language theme for the new cover.
Given in loving memory of Sam and Marion Intrator by the Kotler
Family.
The dedication on the back of the cover which says, Given in loving memory of Sam and Marion Intrator by the Kotler Family. May their memory be for a blessing is surrounded by a wisteria vine in bloom and scattered forget-me-not flowers of embroidered pastel blue, green, purple and pink, framed by ribbon and glass beads.
Our sincere thanks to the Kotler Family for this loving tribute, to our fabulous artist, Patty, our idea man, Charles Katz and Roz Robinson for her rabbinic input. This cover will be treasured for many years to come.
If you want to see photos and information of the artist's process you can go to her website.
In Memorium
It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of David Ludwig Bloch on Yom Kippur morning, September 16, 2002, in Barrytown, New York.
David Bloch, produced a series of black and white lithographs and color oil paintings upon his retirement in 1975 in Mt. Vernon, NY, to help us to understand and remember the Holocaust. Among David's many accomplishments include his lithographic work for the Johnson White House and delicate plates depicting the flowers of all the states in the Union. His work includes water colors, wood cuts and oils.
Reception/Deception by David Bloch
He was a promising young porcelain decorator with a scholarship to the State Academy of Applied Arts in Germany, in 1934, when Jews were expelled from the school. He was arrested and interned in Dachau. When his uncle sent him money to get out in 1940, he fled East and joined the growing refugee community in China. He lived in China for 9 years and there he met and married his wife Lilly. In 1949 they emigrated to New York.
In 1983, several of his lithographs were exhibited during the Temple Community Program,"Crying Hands: Deaf Victims of the Holocaust," featuring German speaker Professor Horst Biesold, a former teacher of the deaf, of blessed memory. David then donated a set of those lithograph prints to TBS: Knock at Midnight, The Last Stop, Reception/Deception, (pictured) The Empty Box (Angel of Death), Never Again and Crying Hand are a few of the titles. They are among our most cherished possessions.
David's works have been displayed across the country. His Holocaust artwork is hard-hitting and emotional as well as extremely thought provoking. He turned a harrowing experience into an aesthetic legacy which carries a stronger message than most other media can, and effectively promotes the constant plea of "never again". May his memory be for a sweet blessing.
Shiva Book
Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf has put together a Shiva booklet to assist families who have suffered a death in the family. Evening Minyan Prayers of Mourning For the Home is a 12 page publication which includes the appropriate mourning prayers and blessings predominately in English with accompanying Hebrew for the Barechu and Kaddish. This publication is free to TBS members. Non-members who are faced with a death in the family and would like copies are asked to make a donation of $25.00 for ten copies to accommodate a minyan, sent overnight mail. The donations collected from the sale of our booklets enables us to continue programs such as this.
For information e-mail: jsee2@aol.com.
TBS Sign Language Class
Temple Beth Solomon offered an 8 week sign language class during the months of June and July. The main thrust of the class was to study American Sign Language (ASL) by comparing it with English structure. We did this in the framework of religious signing using our prayer book with an added visual component - the companion videotapes which correspond to our prayer book.
Sign language class participants: Roz Robinson, Peter Robinson,
Dov Geller, and Florence Haberman
TBS' Prayer Book Project was begun in the late 1980's and funded by a grant from the Council on Jewish Life. The result was our current Prayerbook of the Outstretched Arm, published in January of 1990. As part of that project we had videotapes made which correspond to each service in the prayer book, showing how each prayer is signed. We were so very fortunate to have working with us on the project the team of Lou Fant (of blessed memory) and his wife Barbara Bernstein. As part of their involvement, Lou and Barbara became our models on the videotapes. Barbara signed in English on one set of tapes while Lou signed the other set in ASL.
For this class, Jan Seeley was our guide, pointing out certain ASL features and structures on the tape while Lou "taught". We began with the ASL tape from the traditional service, studying Lou's ASL and comparing it with English signing. The sign choices Lou used motivated some wonderful thought provoking discussions of Jewish concepts and meaning. Spending those 16 hours with the eminent Lou Fant was an incomparable experience. He lives on in such a meaningful way for us and the legacy he left us is so cherished.
We will continue to offer a new section of the class for each of the services from the prayerbook with its accompanying videotape. The next section will be in January, 2003.