Rabbi Gropper, Cantor Comisar, President Hessekiel, Rabbi Rothman and Rabbi Mikva, Members of the Board of Trustees, My dear Family and Dear Members of my Greater Family of Community Synagogue 

I AM THRILLED and honored TO BE HERE THIS MORNING. When Rabbi Gropper called me in early July and invited me to speak on Yom Kippur, I burst into tears. You know not only does this Rosh Hashana mark our 60th anniversary but it's also the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel.  What a wonderful double simcha.

Let me take you on a little journey through the highlights of these 60 years and what they mean to me.  I was born in Rye at United Hospital more than 80 years ago. Growing up in Rye in the twenties and thirties was quite different,  especially for a Jewish child.  I could count on the fingers of one hand the Jewish children in grade school with me, the old Grammar school on the Post Road, that was torn down and is now a CVS, and two of those were my sister and me.

My mother first came to Rye in 1913 a month after she arrived in America.  It was Decoration day, now Memorial Day and she was absolutely enthralled with the beauty of the Sound and the charm of the village. The word Rye in Russian means Paradise and she felt this was truly a paradise.  She said "when I get married this is where I want to live," and indeed when my father got out of the US Army after World War I, Edith and Isaac Donen settled in Rye in 1918 and established a business, Donens' Music Shop, which existed for over 40 years. 

And there isn't a day in my life when I do not thank God and her and bless her for leaving Russia.  Although my parents had been brought up in religious homes, they themselves were free thinkers, and were not observant, although they were ardent Zionists and Yiddishists and we celebrated the holidays especially Rosh Hashanah and Pesach.
My parents felt strongly that their children must have a Jewish education.  My sister and I were taught the precious history and heritage of the Jewish people in Yiddish, in the Workmen's Circle schools in the city. I graduated the high school and still love to sing and speak Yiddish.

But the very first religious service I ever attended was at Rosh Hashanah at Hillel my freshman year at Michigan.  I became very active in Hillel and felt so comfortable belonging to a Jewish sorority, living in the AEPhi house.  I made friends I have to this day. When I enlisted in the Army – the WAC – there were other Jewish men and women, but I never encountered any anti-semitism. I no longer felt as isolated as I had at Rye High where there were three Jews in our class.  When I got out of the Army I went to graduate school to study Russian at Columbia under the GI Bill tuition free. And not incidentally met Gene in a Dostoevsky class. 

I was living at home and commuting just at the time when the small group of Jews that Rabbi Gropper mentioned last week met in order to establish a synagogue.  My parents felt it was very important – especially a Reform congregation. Rye needed a Jewish address.  On Friday nights I would go with my parents to services at the private school on Gramercy Street. This was in 1947-48. We all immediately became friends, friendships that have lasted through the years.  The committee searched for an appropriate home and found the Barron estate.

 

Gene and I would have been the first couple to be married in our synagogue, but the City Council had been presenting obstacles to our taking title.  Fred Block, a lawyer, (later a president of Community Synagogue) represented us at the City Council. He said for them to do anything to prevent our buying the Barron estate would interfere with our first amendment rights to freedom of religion and we PREVAILED! Actually, my sister, Joyce and her husband Adrian (who are here this morning) were the first couple to be married in Community Synagogue – what a lovely wedding as my sister walked down the elegant curved staircase on a beautiful late August Sunday 57 years ago.

A few weeks later we left for Europe, to Munich, Germany on a year's professional assignment. When we came back we soon bought a house in Rye, and immediately became active in our synagogue – I especially. I loved the fact that we had a Jewish place to go. I knew every inch of the mansion and headed the house committee for several years. I was the editor of Community News in the 50s. I served on the Sisterhood Board – and what a special feeling there was as we Jewish women worked together, whether it was an Oneg Shabbat or a rummage sale. Deborah, Debbie, our daughter went to the nursery school when Emily van Weezel was the principal.   Our son Donald, Donnie – became a  bar mitzvah on  Shabbat Shuvah in the early 1960s and can still remember his portion, as does Rabbi Rothman.  And our grandson Nick, who just started college, was named in Community Synagogue.  I've gone from a single to young mother to middle age and now our rewarding SAJE group. 

A day that stands out in my memory –   November 22,  1963 –  I was driving in the car alone when the news that John Kennedy had just been assassinated was announced –  and it was to the  sanctuary that I came -- just stood there all by myself and wept.  And it's where we came on 9/11. We drove over to Milton Point where we could see the smoke from the burning towers  – and then down Forest Avenue and went into the sanctuary – where we stood speechless seeking solace – unable to comprehend this disaster.

 

In 1966 Gene's job took us again to Munich, this time for four years.  The children went to the American military school.   We attended services at the Army chapel, and I organized  Pesachs at the officers club. Living abroad gave us a singular opportunity to  travel with the children in much of Europe.  And we made the first of several memorable trips to Israel right after the 1967 war.  Never forgotten experiences.  Coming home from Germany in 1970 we bought a house in White Plains walking distance to five synagogues. But a dear friend from Community Synagogue called to say that it was S'lichot the next night and why don't you come?   What a warm greeting we got from our old friends and from the rabbi – We knew we were home and where we've remained all these years.

I was so proud when Gene was in the first group of adult bnai mizvah – I gave him a fountain pen. I am sorry that I was never a bat mitvah, not so much for the ceremony, but for the learning.  For years I wrote for and was again the editor of Community News and felt a responsibility for giving it a special spirit, for making sure the holidays were explained and everyone's name spelled correctly.  One regret I DO have is that I have not met some of you younger members of CS.

Because of the synagogue I have become a more observant person – and although I am not shomer Shabbat, my computer is.  It's off from sundown on Friday until after sundown on Saturday.  Just before I shut down I send a Shabbat message to the family, with blessings "on all our zise kepelach.(sweet little heads) " – Our family Seders are beautiful.  Our Haggadahs are falling apart by now, and they are marked with many of our own traditions as well with much music and song.

Friday night services are so meaningful for me. We all knew the Union Prayerbook by heart.  I sang in the chorus and learned all the beautiful nigunnim-melodies.   My favorite service of all is the  Ni'lah service at Yom Kippur,  what Rabbi Rothman  calls a gem of a service– as we shall celebrate this afternoon.  I see my father in the front row holding the small Czech Torah. It means having an aliyah during the holidays, it means friendship with my dear friend, Jonathan Comisar, our cantor.  I love the music of the synagogue, especially on these Yomim Noraim, Days of Awe   –I can  hear my dad singing        S'lach lanu, kaper lanu.

Whenever I am in the sanctuary I know that my parents are here with us and I  feel the spirits of those far-sighted  founders hovering over us –  that remarkable handful of Jewish "pioneers" who envisioned  a thriving congregation.  How thrilled they would be to know that  some 500 families would celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Community Synagogue.

It means service to Community Synagogue family and to the greater Jewish Community– to Hadassah, the New York Association for New Americans helping newly arrived Soviet Jewish immigrants settle in America, to the Westchester Jewish Conference and to the Jewish Studies Program right here at Purchase College.

I have been privileged to know all four of our INSPIRED rabbis and to have worked with each of them, been on first names with them – each of them has taught me about myself and my Jewishness. Rabbi Sam Gordon urged me to read in Hebrew (a language I have not been able to learn as well as I would like).  For 30 years Rabbi Bob Rothman shared his brilliant erudition and sense of humor with us.   Rabbi Rachel Mikva's Havdalah service was awesome.  I envied her depth of knowledge  and I was glad that God was no longer HE. 

And now our dear Rabbi Daniel Gropper has brought to Community Synagogue and its members a sense of strength, of warmth, of family and deep spiritual belief. I love his Misheberach prayer as he looks into each one's eyes.

As I look back on these 60 years and realize how we have grown and how I have grown, I am just so excited about the changes that have taken place since the 50's and 60's.  Peoples' attitudes have changed. The very existence of Community Synagogue made a tremendous difference. It gave the Jews status. I am so glad that our very first president, Maurice Hahn and Micheline are still among us. And I've known all thirty of our presidents!

I feel that as a Jew I have come into my own in this my home.  Last week Rabbi Gropper spoke of what rewards you get from Community Synagogue. For me it is the sense of personal relationships which I cherish most.  My rewards have been priceless.  I am blessed to have lived this long and to be here, to have my husband, my children and grandson,  my family and all of you – my greater family--  here in what is truly a paradise as my mother felt.