“Thank You” at Thanksgiving

Aileen Grossberg

Aileen Grossberg

Thanksgiving is a day for thanks although we Jews often give our thank yous at the New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

So I am taking this opportunity to put the THANKS back into Thanksgiving and express my thanks to people involved in activities that I have a stake in.

So thank you to all the volunteers who help to get food on the table for those weekly kiddushes. Even when I am not directly involved, I thank them. Without our volunteers we would have no bountiful weekly spreads and the fellowship that comes with sharing a meal.

Thank you especially to Beryl Hiller and Carney Mimms who take over when I am away or need a break.

Thank you to my husband Marc who almost ungrudgingly washes the dish towels and tablecloths that we use for our Kiddush lunches and is also often my first reader.

Thank you to Marge Wise who sends out the requests for help each week.

Thank you to everyone who helps with MESH: Lynn Kurzweil, the chair extraordinaire, and the scores of volunteers from 10 years old to many multiples of 10. Week in and week out, we serve a nutritious, attractive, multi-course meal to Montclair’s food insecure.

Thank you to Shirley Grill and Dale Rusakoff who have continued the tradition of housing homeless families twice a year begun by Hannah Aronson. Coordination all the people who make those weeks happen is huge. The return is priceless.

Thank you to Yechiel Felder for the well curated selection of Israeli films what are shown at Shomrei month after month. Who would have thought that a country as small as Israel would have such a large number of quality films.

Thank you to Josie Zeman who keeps the Shomrei book club going. Come join the group. You might like it.

Thank you to Nick Levitin and Andy Silver who have focused us outward to those new to America who need help and remind us that many of us, too, came from refugee stock.

Thank you to Heather Brown who has afforded me the opportunity to work with the preschool in the library. The storytime sessions help me miss my own grandchildren just a little bit less.

Thank you to my daughter Rebecca who often supplies me with inspiration for the Library and Recipe columns. And thank you to my daughter Melanie and son-in-law Steve who have helped with MESH and whose artistic talent I often turn to. Check out her website (melaniegrossberg.com)

Thank you to Bill Batkay who has helped-and is still helping- with the data input for the Lampert Library. What initially was to be a year-long project has stretched to more than two. But Bill has stuck with it. I hope that by summer, all the items in the library will be in the database and searchable from home (Shomrei.org/library)

Thank you to Lawrence Orane and Kevin Pitter (Shomrei’s custodial staff) who never say no when asked to reach something on a high shelf or lug in groceries , books, or supplies.

And of course, thank you to Rabbi David Greenstein who leads our community with inspiration, intelligence, and imagination… And encourages us to say thanks.

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