Jewish Life
A Message from Our President
Dear Congregation B’nai Israel Members,
My mother has been battling a chronic illness for several years and has begun to decline rapidly. A few weeks ago our Care Committee sent a bouquet of exquisite flowers to me to express their concern and to lift me up during this difficult time. I have smiled many times over as I have looked at the bouquet on my dining table. The flowers have definitely upheld their job, for several weeks this past month.
I truly appreciate the flowers along with every positive thought, blessing, and prayer. Thank you for your continued wishes for well-being.
As we approach the New Year this month, I would like to wish everyone holidays filled with reflection and renewal. I am looking forward to seeing you at Temple.
Sincerely and Shana Tovah, Tina Lyon
September Yarhzeits
9/1 Leon Britanisky
9/1 Sylvia Leader
9/1 Ralph Tanenbaum
9/1 Dorothy Wimpy
9/3 Rose Gilpin
9/5 Joyce Baccile
9/5 Rose Levine
9/5 Avrom A. Lustgarten
9/7 Fannie Taffet
9/8 Arthur Lewson
9/9 Sam Segal
9/9 Selma Steinberg
9/10 Paul Briller
9/11 Ceil Nussbaum
9/11 Harry Wise, Jr.
9/12 Irving M. Margolis
9/12 Jay Weinberger
9/14 Lenore Miller
9/14 Muriel Packer
9/15 Irving Briller
9/15 Mildred Tanenbaum
9/16 Emma Abelkop
9/16 Rose Massey
9/17 Jessica August
9/17 Josephine Borew
9/17 Julia Mittle
9/17 Goldie Mooney
9/18 Alfred Green
9/18 Ida Katz
9/19 Jack Finkelstein
9/20 Andras Koser
9/21 Sandra Packer
9/22 Robert Parsons
9/22 Rose W. Tanenbaum
9/24 Sara G. Portnoy
9/25 Miriam Antopolsky
9/26 Risa Sher
9/27 Rebecca Anderson
9/27 Joan Hendrickson
9/27 Shirley D. Kohn
9/27 Doris Malinow
9/27 Agnes Rose
9/29 Hannah Greenwald
9/29 Sally Witz
9/30 Irving “Sonny” Price
BAKE SALE! Time to Place Orders for Sisterhood Bakesale
Note: the email address below is incorrect. To email your orders, send to
sisterhoodbakesale2022@gmail.com
Or call Jan at the Temple 864-582-2001.
August Yahrzeits
8/1 Sherron Weinberger
8/2 Louis Anderson
8/4 Isaac H. Greenwald
8/5 Abraham Freedman
8/5 Edward Reichel
8/5 Trudy Reimer
8/6 Daisy M. Spigel
8/7 Jack Garrell
8/7 Ralph Neufeld
8/8 Freida Anderson
8/8 Toba M. Segal
8/8 Linda S. Ungvarksy
8/9 Henry B. Barnet, Jr.
8/9 Herb Moglin
8/9 Fannie E. Poliakoff
8/9 Fannie Yoffe
8/10 Maurice H. Freedman
8/11 Sidney Kirshman
8/12 Estelle D. Kaplan
8/15 Mayer J. Price
8/16 Pauline H. Bernanke
8/16 Chayim E. Levovitz
8/18 Luevina M. Powers
8/20 Samuel Feinstein
8/20 Myer Poliakoff
8/20 William A. Poulson
8/21 Eva Geller
8/21 Leo Gunther
8/21 Mitchell R. Price
8/21 Fannie Simon
8/22 Max Greenwald
8/22 Jennie Novey
8/22 Sara Simmons
8/23 Samuel Fox
8/24 Bea Adelman
8/25 Ben Barbarash
8/25 David Sher
8/28 Ida Koshak
8/28 Max Lessner
8/29 Fannie R. Cohen
8/29 Edward Shane
8/30 Calvin Fuller, Jr.
8/30 Frank Hendrickson
8/30 Sam Hyman
8/30 Gert Klein
8/30 Miriam Levine
8/30 Rachel L. Michel
8/30 Rebecca Schaefer
8/30 Irving Zeiger
8/31 David Adelman
8/31 Harold Bronstein
From the Heart with Rabbi Liebowitz
Dear friends,
My sister Janice who lives in England has started to become a family archaeologist, that is to say, she is digging deeply into our family roots. She is a whiz at it, discovering documents long hidden and fairly revealing. (Yes, one skeleton or two that I would only share over a glass of wine if you are interested!) These finds included some Yiddish letters that were dusty and worn. Finding an expert Yiddishist to translate them was not as challenging as I had first thought. While not all that inexpensive it was worth it. Two of them resolved a debate over our Great Grandfather’s occupation. On his immigration paper he was listed as a Hebrew teacher. Memories fail and often become embellished. I remembered that he was not only a Hebraist but a Rabbi. Of course, my sister disagreed. As you can see from the two letters below, despite my aging memory, I was vindicated. The first letter, a poem from the student of my great grandfather. The second is Great Grandfather’s poem which was an acrostic. As is traditional, often poets would use the letters of their name to configure one verse or line after another. The Sabbath bride verses Lecha Dodi is an acrostic spelling out Shlomo Ha-Levi. (Solomon the Levite) Various psalms also employ acrostics as does the Book Lamentations in the Bible. Such was the case of the poem he wrote back to his student. It was signed Rabbi Binyamin Budafsky.
Rabbis start to think about the High Holy Days in July. The first poem from his student contains a High Holy blessing. From his time to ours. From the students of my Great Grandfather Binyamin to you and yours. A wonderful summer! A wonderful year to come!
Rabbi Yossi Liebowitz, D.D.
A Message From Our President
Dear Members,
As everyone may or may not know, I grew up on a large farm in Landrum, SC. Other than farm work, there was not a lot of entertainment. Because of the lack of things to do it would drive the teenagers to, well, drive. My friends and I would drive all over the area on winding back roads in the evening and night and enjoy time together, stopping every so often to meet other friends who were driving around out of boredom, also. I have many fond memories of driving and sometimes even “off-roading” after dark.
One of my favorite memories of night driving in the summer is going through a dark grove of trees and coming upon one of the most interesting things I have ever witnessed in nature. As my friends and I were driving through this grove of trees, we noticed tiny lights flashing at the same time throughout the trees lining the road. On, off, on, off… my friends and I realized we were watching hundreds, maybe even thousands, of fireflies synchronize their flashing. It was truly amazing.
Years later I read an article in a wildlife magazine about Synchronous Fire- flies and I knew instantly that must have been what I had seen during that late night summer drive long ago. Apparently, Synchronous Fireflies are males that are displaying their romantic side. This mating ritual only occurs two to three weeks out of each year and is usually during the month of June. I learned from the article that these Synchronous Fireflies can be seen in the Great Smoky Mountains for a couple of weeks every June. Luckily, this year I had a chance to go see Synchronous Fireflies in action. This recent June, David and I drove to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, spent the weekend and was able to witness the fireflies synchronize on a Saturday night. It was close to 10:30 pm when hundreds of male fireflies put on their flashing romantic show. It was spectacular and mesmerizing.
I love nature and seeing natural phenomenon like the mating ritual of the Synchronous Fireflies. It is interesting how something as small as a firefly can come together and synchronize their light. If a tiny firefly can join other fire- flies to put on a beautiful light show, imagine what we humans can do when we join and work synchronously. It truly makes me pause and think.
I am grateful how well we work together for the well-being of our Temple. Seeing the Synchronous Fireflies again reminded me there is always more that can be done by being united and working synchronously. Let’s continue to stand together and find ways that we can be more synchronous. Together our light shines brighter than alone.
I wish you a wonderful July and August. Enjoy a safe Fourth of July holiday. Please check the Temple Topics for the July and August Temple calendar and join us!
Tina Lyon Temple President
July Yahrzeits
7/1 Louis B. Freedman
7/1 Sarah Robkin
7/3 Zolley W. Lerner
7/5 Myron Parsons
7/6 Harry Tanenbaum
7/7 Ernest M. Acanfora
7/7 Fay Friedberg
7/7 Bella C. Karsh
7/7 Richard Packer
7/8 Sidney Anderson
7/11 Abraham Gelburd
7/11 Lena F. Reimer
7/11 Milton Vogelstein
7/12 Betty Freed
7/13 Marvin Singer
7/14 Lillian S. Lustgarten
7/14 Edith Silverman
7/14 David M. Spigel
7/15 Charles Simmons
7/16 Lucy Britanisky
7/18 Maurice Abelsky
7/18 Dorothy Cohen
7/18 Ida Litoff
7/19 Sandor Teszler
7/20 Barry August
7/20 Osher Koser
7/20 Benjamin Levin
7/22 Maurice E. Bromley
7/24 Rose Lessner
7/25 Miriam M. Price
7/27 Frances Briller
7/27 Sarah L. Freedman
7/28 Abe H. Morris
7/28 Kathy Steinberg
7/29 Evelyn Fleishman
7/30 Richard August
7/30 Reba B. Morewitz
7/30 Irving Soloway
7/30 Jack Steinberg
7/31 Miriam Shapiro
June Yahzeitz
6/3 Barry Goldman
6/3 Elizabeth Nabow
6/5 Mildred P. Gelburd
6/5 Herman Klausner
6/6 Hazel Abelsky
6/6 Ethel Silnutzer
6/7 Samuel Shapiro
6/7 Rose H. Smiley
6/8 Nathan W. Blumberg
6/10 Ayla Paula A. Marks
6/12 Charles Rabiner
6/13 William G. Smith
6/14 Jessica M. Horn
6/14 Samuel Robinson
6/15 Rose Cohen
6/15 Jake Lurey
6/16 Marsha Poliakoff
6/16 Minnye Weinberger
6/17 Barney Gelburd
6/17 Rhoda Koshak
6/18 Marvin Frank
6/19 Norman Bornstein
6/23 Meyer Cohen
6/24 Herbert Shapiro
6/24 Beth Weinberger
6/25 Rosa Levy
6/26 Jacob Barash
6/26 Sidney Captain
6/27 Gittel Smith
6/29 Shalom Baruch
May Yahrzeits
5/1 Goldie Stemberg
5/2 Abraham Moglin
5/2 Dana S. Sachs
5/2 Irving I. Witz
5/7 Mary L. Busch
5/8 Murray Aronson
5/8 Eunice Sperling
5/10 Marion Feinstein
5/10 Solomon Silver
5/11 Phyllis Stauber
5/12 Ida Switzer
5/13 Jonathan A. Fishbein
5/13 Hyman Perlman
5/13 Andrew Teszler
5/15 Dorothy Brett 5
/15 Alvin Fox
5/17 Louis Reimer
5/17 Jack Tobin
5/18 Jack Steinberg
5/18 Unger Morris
5/20 Elizabeth Reemes
5/21 Sara Hecklin
5/21 Marthe Heymann
5/21 Fishel Steinbrock
5/23 Stephen Werner
5/24 Edith From
5/26 Harry Price
5/26 Abel Simon
5/26 Joel Spigel
5/26 Pauline Unger
5/27 Gussie Levy
5/28 David Packer
5/29 Minnie Perlman
5/30 Ernest Emory
5/30 Dr. Simon H. Smith
5/30 Pauline L. Smith
5/30 Samuel Weiner
5/31 Jerry N. Hyder
5/31 Susan R. Wise
5/31 Rabbi Max S. Stauber