SPOKES-- May 30, 2023

 
 
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May 30, 2023
 
 
Today’s meeting was held offsite at the First Hebrew Congregational Church.
 
 
 Mary Sur Lyon started the meeting today promptly at 7 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance
 
 
Our Hosts and Guests Today are Barry Fidelman and Steve Tolen
 
Dana Hullinger gave the invocation today- He prayed two prayers today:
  • Shehecheyanu
  • Mi Shebeirach- A prayer for healing, both prayers were said in English and Hebrew
 
Barry Fidelman made Luction Kuggel – Noodle dish for the Members of the Club to enjoy today.  This is considered the Milk meal. Thank you, Barry it was delicious!
 
Barry also announced that every Third Wednesday at 7 p.m. there are Free Movies and Popcorn at the Church.   
 
 
Announcements:
 
  1. Last week I neglected to report on the highlight decisions of the board at its May 16th meeting.  We voted to expand our scholarship program next year to award 6 $1,000 grants to local seniors as a result of the successful scholarship fundraiser held in April.  We also voted to send a donation in the amount of $2,500 to the South Haven Public Schools Foundation from the proceeds of the that event. 
The board also approved a $1,000 grant to the History Club to help defray their travel costs to represent South Haven at the national competition in June.  We deferred making a decision on a grant request from the South Haven Ambassadors Program & Education organization until we heard more about this initiative (which we did last week). 
  1. The new board Induction Dinner will be held at Hawks Head at 6pm on June 27th with a golf outing preceding.  See Dan to sign up for golf. 
  2. Amy is looking for 10-12 volunteers for the July 4th parade float staging at the high school.
  3. We will begin circulating the sign-up sheets for the July 2nd Pancake Breakfast next week.  We will need volunteers for both set-up on July 1st and shifts for the breakfast on the 2nd.
  • Membership will each receive 10 tickets- price $100.00
  • You may give them away, or just make a donation
  • Tickets are normally priced at $12.00
  • Want to get everyone a chance to use the grills this year
  • Would like everyone to at least stop by on July 2cnd.
  • Bigger Crowd on August 12
  1. The Club still needs a member to step into the role of posting updates of our activities to Facebook.  See Melinda, Mark or me if interested.
Rhonda:
  • Invitations to the Induction Dinner were passed out today-
  • Sign up or e-mail by June 20th,
 
Corky Ingersoll- Is having some health issues, let’s all send him an e-mail to help cheer him up
 
 
We did not have Comedy, Birthday’s – Anniversaries or Happy Bucks at today’s meeting.
 
 
Presentation this week- Steve Tolen, member of the First Hebrew Congregational Church- sponsored by Dana Hullinger
 
The membership started out in the basement looking at all of the historical pictures hanging around the room.
 
We then moved upstairs to the beautiful Sanctuary- Steve Tolen was our presenter today!
 
Steve Tolen started with a brief history of the building.  
  •  Building was built in 1928
  • During the 50’s and 60’s the Main Floor was Orthodox
  • Men were on the Main Floor
  • Women in the Balcony
  • No English was spoken only Hebrew
Today:
Saturday- Orthodox Service
Friday- Reformed Rabbi ‘s Conservative
 
We learned:
  • The Synagogue has not had a full time Rabbi since in the 1960’s
  • The Torah’s are the Five Books of Moses (Old Testament) and are stored on Scrolls in a beautiful ornamental chamber called an Ark.
  •  The Ark was built by Harry Liberman – a woodworker out of Bangor
  • One scroll is brought out and read from using a pointer
  • Torah Mantles are the cloth covers used to decorate and protect the Torah Scrolls
The Synagogue underwent major restorations 10 years ago
The Original Synagogue was at the corner of 68th Street
 
Membership:
  • 80 Members
  • 10 Local
  • People from all over the country
  • Saturday is anywhere from 10 to 60 people
South Haven at one time had a large Jewish Population with any where from 100 to 150 people each week
 
Barmitzvah- 13 year old male Rite of Passage will be able to read a certain section of the Torah in Hebrew.
Batmitzvah-Female
 
Lakeview Cemetery has a dedicated Jewish Section of the cemetery.
  • Circle Drive- Inner Circle have to be Jewish to be buried there
  • Outer Circle you don’t have to be Jewish
  • The Synagogue will host a Cemetery Tour on September 10, 2023
Thanks to our hosts for letting us tour such a beautiful, historical place of worship!
 
Mary Sue Lyon Thanked Steve and Barry for their hospitality today. The meeting was adjourned. Please join us next week promptly at 7 a.m. at Peace Lutheran Church. Next week’s greeters:  Amy Nichols and Melinda Gruber
 
Respectfully submitted: Sandra S. Reno