How do you really fix a broken pipe? You get together with a hundred and thirty of your friends and focus on something that matters! Such was the case last Saturday night as Shomrei honored Dale Russakoff and the volunteers of the Mensch Squad and IHN (Interfaith Hospitality Network). (See the lists of all honorees below). Dale co-chairs Shomrei’s chapter of IHN and she leads the Mensch Squad.
While it was chilly outside, there was a warm glow in Shomrei’s social hall. Beautiful music filled the space courtesy of The Jim Zucker Jazz Quartet including Jim Zucker, Fred Guterl, Michael Kruge and Mitch Germansky. After Rabbi David Greenstein kicked-off the evening with Havdalah, and Ha Motzi, President Fern Heinig welcomed everyone. Later the Rabbi expressed words of gratitude for volunteers and a film “Shomrei Speaks” produced by Liza Cohn and Linda Ariel and edited by Nick Levitin was screened.
IHN President, Emma Justice, Presented Dale with an award from IHN.
Matt, Sam and Adam Purdy told us about “the Real Dale”
The “Not-Ready-For-Honor-Night-Players” (Shirley Grill, Gerry Blume, Marc Chalom, Howie Erichson and Elissa Sanders) presented a musical toast and singalong of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me“.
Gifts were presented by Sylvia and Liza Cohn.
And Dale Spoke.
Dale’s comments:
Thanks to the entire committee: Co-chairs Shirley Grill and Liza Cohn and members Linda Ariel, Dawn Berman, Linda Blume, Sylvia Cohn, Vicky Eiger, Rachel Kanter, John Lasiter, Nick Levitin, Merle Martin, Shana Rubin, Elissa Sanders, Adrienne Shulman, Gail Stocks, Marge Wise and Renata Worob.
Recently we saw an unforgettable play called In the Body of the World in which there was an extraordinary monologue about the epic goodness of volunteers. It was so amazing that I ordered the book on which the play was based, hoping to find those lines in it, and it was my good luck that they were there, word for word. Now, the play is by Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues, so as you might expect, some of the language isn’t exactly shul-friendly. But I’m going to try to clean it up in hopes it won’t lose too much in the translation because this is exactly how I feel about the people who have made the mensch squad and IHN a reality for decade upon decade here at Shomrei Emunah.
The play is a series of monologues and this one is about a woman named Cindy who comes to Eve Ensler’s room at the Mayo Clinic day after day and helps her in a way no one else can to recover from radically disfiguring abdominal surgery. And one of the extraordinary things about Cindy is that she is a volunteer.
“If anything has kept my faith in humans,” Eve Ensler says, “it is not the grand inventors or visionary poets or brain surgeons or even the Gandhis of this world. It is the Cindys, the quiet, invisible, often underpaid or unpaid Cindys who get up every morning, and after feeding their families, and taking care of their infirm parents, find their way on snowy country roads or polluted freeways to hospitals or old-age homes or mental institutions or orphanages. Frequently unacknowledged, they take care of the poor and the privileged, the sick and the depraved. They weave an invisible web of care through the lonely mansions of Beverly Hills and emergency wards and mammogram clinics and infusion suites.
“…. When the world is right, it will be the unpaid and unsung people like Cindy who will be the honored ones, the ones who get paid the most, and they will sit at the big table. When the world is right, it will be these invisible people who we see and cherish.”
The best thing about being chairman of the mensch squad – which entails only sending out the emails that activate the mensches of Shomrei Emunah — is I get to watch acts of kindness unfold right before my eyes. All I have to do is send out emails saying someone needs a ride to the doctor or a meal or a visitor or some help setting up for a shiva — and caring people throughout our congregation respond saying they want to help. Sometimes it’s people who’ve volunteered literally hundreds of times and sometimes it’s someone volunteering for the first time, who in reaching out to help others ends up feeling more connected to this community—and then, sure enough, they volunteer again. It’s like having a ringside seat on the deeds of the unpaid and unsung Cindys of the world, day in and day out. It’s so rewarding that I sometimes feel guilty about hoarding it for all these years, so if anyone wants to ease my guilt one day and succeed me as mensch squad chair, I am open to that.
The Interfaith Hospitality Network is an absolutely amazing testament to the power of volunteers. With the tiniest paid staff, this organization takes care of homeless families, and puts them on a path to permanence, relying on congregations like ours who rally 50 or more people for one week at a time to feed and house them and provide them with human connection. I remember when John and Adrienne Lasiter had just joined Shomrei, and Adrienne volunteered to help prepare breakfast on a Sunday morning for the families. Amanda Seef-Charney and I were there, too, that morning and Adrienne confided that this was her first time volunteering at Shomrei and she didn’t feel quite sure of herself. We remarked that IHN was a great way to get involved at Shomrei because it’s so easy to just scramble some eggs or do an art project with a 4-year-old. And Amanda said, “Yes, and after you’ve done this, you can go on the board and a year or so later you can be president.” Of course we are proud that Adrienne – and so many others — got started with us.
Recently I received a letter from an inner city school in Dorchester, in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, with quotations from papers written by recent high school graduates about what they’d learned. This one seemed particularly on point: “Home isn’t a physical place. It’s something you carry around with you. You make it yourself, by meeting people that share the same beliefs and values as you.”
That’s what so many of us feel about Shomrei Emunah.
Here are more photos from the event.
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A big “Yasher Koach” to all those that made the evening possible:
Event Sponsors:
Benefactors:
Sylvia Cohn, Liza Cohn-Wallach & William Wallach
Sponsors:
Dawn & Leon Berman, Gerry & Linda Blume
, Gordon & Karen Braverman, Howard & Sara Ann Erichson,
Adam & Liz Gale, David & Shirley Grill,
June Zimmerman & Béla Schwartz
, Dr. Kenneth Bannerman & Judy Wildman,
Jan Hoffman & Daniel Nachman, Donald & Joan Zief
Donors:
Risa & Sol Bernstein, Cindy Handler
Event Committee
Co-Chairs: Liza Cohn, Shirley Grill; Members:
Linda Ariel, Dawn Berman, Linda Blume, Vickie Eiger, Jan Hoffman, Rachel Kanter, Adrienne Lasiter, John Lasiter, Nick Levitin,
Megan Lewis, Merle Martin, Shana Rubin, Elissa Sanders,
Gail Stocks, Marge Wise, Renata Worob
Special Thanks
Rabbi David Greenstein; Marge Wise, Executive Director; Marita Falconer, Office Assistant; Orane and O’neill Lawrence, Kevin Pitter, Kevin Zehnder, Janitors.
Mensch Squad Honorees
Adrienne and John Lasiter, Aileen Grossberg, Alexandra Kent, Andrea Schrager, Andy and Merrill Silver, Arden Epstein, Bernard Tubiana, Carla Greengrass, Carol Katzman, Carolyn Lack, Charlie and Nancy Breslin, Dale Russakoff, Daniel Nachman and Jan Hoffman, David Kanegis, Dawn Berman, Dr Neal Yudkoff and Judy Post, Dr. Jerry M. Weiss, Sarita Eisenberg and Dr. Louis Hammerman, Einya Aaron, Elissa Sanders, Fran and Mike Legman, Howard and Sara Ann Erichson, Jay Sabin, Jennifer Anne Moses and Stuart Green, Jerilyn Margulies, Jerry and Linda Blume, Joan Weller, Judy Wildman, Linda Ariel, Linda Wieseneck, Lisa Pendola, Liz Gale, Liza Cohn-Wallach, Lynne Kurzweil, Lynne Rubin, Andrea and Mandel Schrager, Marge Wise, Mary Ellen Ellis, Merle Martin, Miriam Haimes, Nancy Breslin, Natalie Baff, Nick Levitin, Rabbi David Greenstein, Rachel Kanter, Renata Worob, Rita Singer, Sandra Feldman, Sarah Kravits, Sarah Steindel, Saul Fellus, Sharon Streicher, Shirley Grill, Sidney and Vivien Lichter, Susan B. Anderson”, Susanna Baker, Tsipi Taube, Wendy Sabin
IHN Honorees
Aimee Brooks (w/Hailey and Collin), Amy and Jason Didner, Beryl Hiller, Adrienne and John Lasiter (w/ Elliot and Sam), Aileen Grossberg, Alex Kent and Sam Selesnick, Amanda Seeff-Charny, Amiee Idan, Andy and Merrill Silver, Anne Gelman, Arden Epstein, Bette Shrensel, Carney Mimms, Charlie and Nancy Breslin (w/Alan, Lila and Kate), Vicki Compter and Allen Lefkowitz (w/Ben and Alexander), Craig Levine, Dale Russakoff, Dan Nachman, Jan Hoffman (w/Amalia Nachman), David and Miriam Haimes, Elissa Sanders (w/Jeremy and Maya Stepansky), Jonathan Fellus (w/Marcella and Eli), Fern Heinig, Fran and Mike Legman, Gerry and Linda Blume, Howard and Sara Ann Erichson, Jane Susswein, Janet Berman, Jilana Dellal, Jeff Plaut, Jennifer Moses and Stuart Green, Jerry Weiss, Jill Hamburg Coplan, Jill Jeszeck, Jonathan Grupper, Judy Meyers, Kimberly Brown, David Halbfinger (w/Natasha, Eva and Jack), Karen Eisenberg, Karen Lazar, Lilly Lucey, Linda Ariel, Lisa Brenner, Malka Hapner, Marie and Fanya Hoffman, Mary Elizabeth and Michael Brenner, Debra Caplan and Nick Taft (w/Zev and Maya), Nancy Kaplan, Natalie Baff, Naz Singh and Brian, Richard Kestenbaum , Robert Green and Ruth Deitz, Sally and Jonathan Goodgold, Sarah Kravits (w/Delia, Jo and Louis), Sarah Steindel, Sharon Hurwich, Sheryl Glovin, Shirley Grill, Sidney and Vivien Lichter, Stacey Gold, Steve Crooks, Steve Moctezuma, Susan Anderson, Susan Lazev, Talia Yarmush, Tamar Schattner, Toby Stein, Mark Weinstein and Tserendash Tsendensodnom, Shana Rubin, Jill Reinholt, Margot Laskin, Manisha Mehta, Ilene and Lee Goldmeier, Lynne and Lanny Kurzweil, Martin Kurzweil and Fiona Graff, Gail and Ian Stocks, Debra Levy, Jim Nagel, Becki and Delilah Papka, Ellen and Marshall Kolba, Yael Silverberg-Urian, Rachel Kanter (w/Siona, Pacey and Avital), Rabbi David and Zelda Greenstein, Carolyn Lack, Dan Marcus, Mindy Rosenthal, Ricki Wolfe, Liza Cohn, Sheri and Charlie Orenstein, Jackie and Steve Katsman (w/Juliette), Beth Fuqua, Renata Worob and Noa, Dawn and Leon Berman (w/Gabriele), Saul Fellus and Talia and Mirela, David Schwartz, Diane Walensky
Photos by: David Grill and Nick Levitin
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- Goodbye “Sharing Shabbat” - Thu, Jun 17, 2021
- Shomrei Latke Crew (and John’s recipe) - Thu, Dec 13, 2018
It was an amazing evening. Yasher Koach to all who made it happen
This evening was replete with the warmth and soul of the Shomrei community, and you captured it beautifully through word, picture, and song.