Did you ever have an experience where you weren’t quite
sure if you were dreaming or not?
It happened to me one Saturday morning. We had been working on the
budget for about two months trying to make it balance. We have an
accumulated deficit and I was trying to come up with a way to deal with
it. And then I picked up the Observer and read the headline. “Shortfall
may hit $2 Billion.” Wow! Now that was worse than I thought. I was
certainly relieved when I found out it was the State of North Carolina
they were talking about and not Temple Beth El. I guess everything is
relative and in the grand scheme of things our deficit isn’t that bad.
It’s also nothing new.
Last month while I was at my mom’s house looking through a box of old
papers collected over the years I came across a faded paper called “Men’s
Club Notes.” At closer look I saw that it was a newsletter from Temple
B’nai Israel in Irvington New Jersey. That was the Temple in which my
family celebrated many of its significant life cycle events. It was type
written. My mother had saved it because there was an article about my
grandfather. But it was another headline that caught my attention. It
read, “Dues are Due.” The short article announced, “Just a small reminder
that some of the members have overlooked paying their 1947 dues. When we
realize that our monies are aiding so many good charitable causes, the
treasurer, Al Baron, feels sure that you will mail him a check and Al will
mail out your membership card. Your card signifies your membership in a
real Men’s Club.”
As I read this, I couldn’t help but think about the expression, “The more
things change, the more things stay the same.” While they certainly didn’t
have fax machines, computers or email back then, they did have a pride in
their Temple and a need to coax their members to stand up and be counted.
It was that way then and it is that way now. I’ve been attending Board of
Directors meetings at Temple Beth El for eleven years. The following is an
excerpt from the minutes of the Board dated September 3, 1991 under the
heading of “Finances.” “Discussion was held in regard to raising funds for
the temple. Jerry Seigel made calls to ask people to double their
pledge…we will inform congregants how serious the situation is; appoint
Shirley Fytelson chairperson of cash collections committee and ask people
to re-examine their financial commitment.
As you can read on other pages , we are about to begin our commitment
renewal campaign. Barbara Katz’s review of some of our accomplishments
during her presidency is impressive. To continue being there for you we
need your help. To paraphrase the words of Al Baron in 1947, “Your
commitment signifies your membership in a real Temple.” Please consider
increasing your commitment to your Temple so that we can continue to grow
as we did during these last two years.
Last month’s challenge was to come up with an Olympic summer event.
Shirley Fytelson was the winner with her entry of “The Staff on a Raft”
This month’s puzzle.......
1. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?
2. This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious how quickly you can find out
what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was
wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though.
Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But
if you work at it a bit, you might find out.
Arthur B. Kramer |
Kramer's Remarks Arhive
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Kramer's
Remarks