PRESENTATION OF ALBUMS OF BRITH SHALOM’S HISTORY

by NAOMI GOLDSTICK ROSNER

SHABBOS MORNING SERVICES, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2010

Our family motto, for obvious reasons, has become “Any job that is worth doing, is worth doing late.” And so, it was three years ago that Ron Moses called me, early in his presidency here at Brith Shalom.  Somehow he had heard, correctly, that I was in the business of organizing other people’s family photos and he requested that I organize the contents of a few boxes of Brith Shalom memorabilia sitting in the synagogue office.  Not knowing what I was agreeing to, I said I’d be happy to help.

A few boxes turned into many boxes of Brith Shalom photos and paraphernalia.  I’d get calls from the office to come pick up a new stash that they had found.  Word got out about what I was doing and synagogue members gave me even more material.  Our dining room table at home became buried in 55 years worth of Brith Shalom history.

Today, I joyously return the archives to you, the congregation of Brith Shalom.  The four albums that I have assembled will become part of our synagogue library collection along with past membership directories, and Hineni bulletins from 1975 to the present.  There are Follies notebooks that already reside in the library.  Early papers from the 1950’s and 60’s will be scanned by our office staff and volunteers who have yet-to-be-found.  These will then be put on CD’s before the original papers become any more brittle, yellow, or unreadable with age.

I have always been perplexed during Passover when we read from the Hagaddah  “a new king arose over Egypt who knew not Joseph.”  As a child, I thought this was very odd, especially as all we did in religious school was learn about Joseph.  I come from a family rich in photos and history and legacy and I spent many summers with my grandmother meeting relatives, long dead, by studying their photos and listening to my grandmother’s stories of their lives.  We became members of  Brith Shlom almost ten years ago, and although the evidence of those who were here before me was all around me, I knew them not.  This preservation project has opened my eyes to the vast accomplishments and incredible commitment of the members of Brith Shalom starting in 1954 when a handful of people created a one page survey for the Jewish community in order to ascertain if there was enough interest to start a new congregation in a different part of town so they wouldn’t have to schlep their kids so far through traffic back and forth to Hebrew school.

You will find the survey on the first page of the archives.  In a matter of a few months, they had a congregation, a building, a rabbi, and a school.  It is thanks to Eve Bodner that copies of newspaper articles, meeting notes, and correspondence, all from the 1950’s and 1960’s, found their way from the boxes and into my hands.  I never knew Eve, although I now recognize her in photos.  She is deceased, but she was there at the beginning, in 1954, and was the self-appointed archivist for Brith Shalom in her day.  I thank this kindred spirit, and hope I have not disappointed her.

I hope you enjoy the albums.  They can be seen following services during our kiddish luncheon.  With so many people here today, you might want to come back and look at them at your leisure in the library.

I would like to share with you just a bit of what I learned during this undertaking.

Over the past 55 years, cameras have become ever easier to use and afford.  Consequently, I found there were more photographs of a single event, for example Brith Shalom’s 50^th Anniversary Gala evening in 2005, than from all the years between 1955 and 1970.  Needless to say, there was some editing required and I will be returning duplicate and edited photographs to those members appearing in these photos.  In the end, there will probably still be one small box of photos remaining.

I apologize now for any errors or omissions.  I called on many people over the past few years to help me identify people and events, and date the photographs.  In the process, we made a lot of progress but I also saw how unreliable all our memories are. So, I did my best to be a modern day archaeologist.  Without ever getting my hands dirty, I often searched the internet for information to help date pictures.  In one instance I studied an undated photo from a Purim carnival and eyed an unfamiliar  slogan on a Coke can.  A Google search informed me this unpopular slogan was short lived and dated the Purim festivities circa 1993.  You will see in the album photographs of Natan Sharansky, the Russian refusenik who, imprisoned for 8 years, became a world symbol for human rights and upon gaining his freedom, became a vocal Israeli politician.  He appears in these photos in some synagogue, somewhere, speaking with the then Brith Shalom rabbi, Shaul Osadchey.  The year 1983 was written on the envelope containing these photos but an internet check found that Sharansky was still sitting in prison that year, not released until 1986.  In trying to maintain a chronological order throughout the albums, Sharansky can be found somewhere in the late 80’s, early 90’s.

There were many moments where I found myself saying “I didn’t know that.”  I met with longtime member Lila Flanz to help me with this project and she had an incredible amount of knowledge about the people and happenings at Brith Shalom.  It turned out that she had been the office manager here in the 1970’s.  I didn’t know that.  In recent months, Elaine Kellner has given me her time and helped me plough through what looked like insurmountable piles of material.  I learned that Elaine had been the religious school administrator here.   I didn’t know that.

I could find no complete record that listed all the synagogue’s rabbis, cantors, or presidents, let alone the years that they served.  Just this week, as I work best under pressure, I was still trying to find out what years Cantor Samuel Urbach served here at Brith Shalom as the synagogue’s first cantor.

“Well, says Lila, I’ll call Sadie.”

“Who’s that?”  I asked.

“Sadie Urbach, Sam’s wife.”

“You’re kidding, I said.  She’s still in Houston?  She’s still a member of Brith Shalom?”

“Of course,” said Lila.

“I didn’t know that.”

And within minutes Lila called me back to say Cantor Urbach was cantor at Brith Shalom from 1965 until 1983.   I have now compiled these lists of all Brith Shalom’s rabbis, cantors, religious school directors, and presidents, sent copies to our office staff, and included them in the album pages.

I am moving with my family to Baltimore this summer, but I leave you with two proposals.  When the next membership directory is begun, make it a photo directory.  Two different Brith Shalom photo directories exist from years past*, and they are precious.  If you have time to look at them, you’ll discover many of the same faces you see today, and, in particular, a family photo that shows our current president, Maxine Goodman, as a youngster.  It is a delightful photo.  It is time for another photo directory.

Secondly, I have high hopes that the books will be made into a movie.  There is talk, that I initiated, that the Hazak group of older members of our Brith Shalom community, will take on this project and film interviews of long time members.  I leave this in the hands of Fred Floersheimer who was interested in seeing this done by Hazak – and, for a change, he wasn’t joking.

It’s been a fascinating project.  I thank Ron for dumping it in my lap. As a result, I look at the building differently, and the art, the architecture, the grounds, and the people.   So many fund raisers and groundbreakings, so much planning, so many annual rituals and anniversaries, and so much to celebrate. I thank the people of Brith Shalom for their hospitality, generosity, and friendship.  I will miss this place.

*Upon hearing this speech, Janice Rubin approached me and indicated that there were, in fact, three past photo directories. She believes she has a copy of the missing one, from the 1960’s, and will add that to the synagogue collection.