WCHJ Hanukkah Celebration

Transcription

1 WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY FOR HUMANISTIC JUDAISM DECEMBER 2017 Volume XIII Number 22 Editor: Jeannine Simon From your editor: On Saturday, I went to Manhattan. It seemed that Donald Trump had the same idea. Everybody was in the city, to see the tree or do their holiday shopping, so between them and the two of us, it was pretty crowded. I spent hours on buses that were on hold pattern so the presidential motorcade could pass. I only saw the back of it. It seemed to travel through all the crossstreets. Anyway, this gave me a chance to get acquainted with my fellow New Yorkers and tourists, too. Looking for the Jewish Museum, I ended up in a place that sold Christmas trees. It had a marvelous smell of pine. The main event this month is Hannukah. Our Hannukkah party, as usual, will be at Neil Holbert. WCHJ Hanukkah Celebration Saturday, December 16, :30pm Neil Hobert 281 Garth Road, Apt. BF4 Scarsdale, NY Join the Westchester Community for Humanistic Judaism in a celebration of Hanukkah, which will be led by Rabbi Frank Tamburello, at Neil Holbert's. Neil will generously provide some sandwiches, but please feel free to bring some latkes or sufganiot (doughnuts).

2 I have sad news to report. One of our members, Gerald Varley, passed away suddenly. New York Times obituary of Gerald Varley The late Gerald Montague Varley was born in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England on Valentine's Day in He was 86 years old when he passed peacefully at home in Larchmont, New York last week. He received his undergraduate degree in Textile Technology from the City and Guilds of London University in 1954, and a graduate degree in Textile Manufacturing and Technology from North Carolina State University in Varley began his career in 1956 with Courtaulds. He was Plant Manager for Canadian Celanese in St. Jean Quebec. In Edmonton, Alberta, he was the Division Manager. In 1968, he established Varley Textile Associates and in 1986 he cofounded Vartest Laboratories, where he was the CEO & President for the last 31 years. Varley was an active member of the British Textile Institute, American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, and the American Society for Testing and Materials. In 2006, he was granted the Companion Membership of The Textile Institute in England in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the textile industry. Varley is survived by his son Adam, grandchildren Audrey and Henry and sisters Sheilah Sheldon, Enid Marcus and Betty Clements. Memorial Services were held at Frank E. Campbell, "The Funeral Chapel in New York, on Thursday, November 30. I will add that I had the most delightful chat with Gerald, I think it was at the Yom Kippur Break-the-Fast. We were talking about Manchester, the Mancunians (that is their name!) and other Britons. He had a lovely book about the relationship between the pantone colors and your horoscope that we all had fun with.

3 I started to read the second volume of Simon Schama s The Story of the Jews, Belonging It is a magnificent book. Through Schama s passionate and intelligent telling, a story emerges of the Jewish people that feels as if it the story of everyone, of humanity packed with detail. says the blurb. Here is a short excerpt from the Chapter, Americans The Jewish presence in the mining world of the west produced at least another momentous commercial revolution. It began with a famous job of improvised rough tailoring. In December 1870 the wife of a bulky, dropsical Nevada miner came to the Virginia City shop of Jacob Davis (born Jakub Youphes near Riga) complaining that her husband s work pants were constantly ripping. Davis s main line of work was wagon covers, tents and horse blankets for the workers of the Central Pacific Railroad, but he d been known to knock off the occasional pair of overalls as well. The fabric for all these jobs was either the ten-ounce cotton duck twill or the nine-ounce blue denim supplied to him by Loeb Strauss (now calling himself Levi) in San Francisco. By his own canonical account, Davis looked over at the copper rivets lying around on his workbench, normally used to secure tenting and wagon covers, and the thought that changed the look of the modern world stirred. Might the rivets not be used at pockets and seams for the work clothes? They could and they were, and before long all railroad workers and miners too wanted them. Davis made two hundred pairs over the next year and still couldn t keep up with the demand, nor could his supplier Mr Strauss. In July 1872 Davis wrote the famous letter asking Strauss to apply for a patent in return for a partnership in production with a share of all proceeds. An initial application was rejected by the patent office on the ground that rivets had already been used in the manufacture of military boots during the Civil War, but a further application in May 1873 met with success, and jeans (from the matelot slang for Genes, the French for Genoa, where blue canvas workclothes had been worn for centuries) arrived.

4 Rabbi Frank Tamburello Board of Directors Dmitry Turovsky... Ann Toffel... Olga Turovsky... Jeannine Simon... Diane Steinfink... Patricia Hammer... President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Member-at-large Member-at-large Committees Programs and Membership Diane Steinfink Publicity Charlotte Klein Hospitality rotating For general information or questions Please contact Dmitry Turovsky, or search our website, wchj.org For the next meeting of the History Buffs, check for date and place with Patricia Hammer )

5 Dates 2017/2018, 5778/5779 Here is a list of tentative dates for the coming year, both for celebrating the Holy Days and for programs: Hanukkah (at Neil Holbert) December 16 12:30 Jewish Views of Jesus (Muraskin) January 6 CUUC Tu B Shvat January 20 CUUC Shabbat February 9 tbc Purim March 3, CUUC Model Seder March 28 tbc Yom Ha Shoah April 13 CUUC Shabbat May 11 tbc Shavuot talk on Gene Wilder May 19 CUUC Bukharian Jews in Queens May outing tbc Directions COMMUNITY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION (468 Rosedale Ave. White Plains, NY 10605) Take the Hutchinson River Parkway to Exit 25 for North St. Follow the sign to White Plains (LEFT if you are traveling NORTH. RIGHT if you are traveling SOUTH) onto North St. At first light, turn LEFT onto Rosedale Ave. Go one block and look for WHITE sign for Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Turn right onto Sycamore Lane to parking lot. or Take Hutch to Mamaroneck Avenue toward White Plains. Take right on Rosedale Ave. About one mile to white sign. Turn left on Sycamore Lane to parking lot