The office will be closed on Monday, September 18, 2023.
A special thank you to the following members that helped set up for High Holidays: Dennis and Francine LeVine, Sara Ingber, Barry Hanerfeld, Rob Bovarnick, Haim Goldenberg, Joseph Markowitz and Lloyd Stern.
Think Israeli funnyman Edgar Karet meets philosopher Albert Camus for lunch joined by Star Wars filmmaker, George Lucas, and you begin to feel the ‘je ne sais quoi’ sense in the collection of thirteen stories incongruously titled Jerusalem Beach.
Not a licensed psychologist nor professional mental health provider author Iddo Gefen works with Parkinson’s patients at a neurocognitive research facility in Tel Aviv. He explores “how storytelling can improve our understanding of the seemingly impenetrable human mind.” Gefen delves into, private intangible elements of human experience with stories that become “the tools to explain what is going on inside.”
Set in Israel, the title story speaks with unparalleled tenderness of love battling fading memories.
It’s a warm summer day, sixty years married, Sammy and Lillian take the bus to see “the snow on the beach in Jerusalem.” This will be the last time they will travel together “before he would turn her in to a residential facility” because Sammy can no longer take care of his wife’s progressing dementia. Today, at her behest, he will indulge Lillian’s memory. “I can smell the sea can you”? she asks. Sammy knows her memory is failing; there is no sea in Jerusalem. But today he will soothe her feelings comfort her fears, and lie down with her “across the sand fashioning elderly angels on the snow of Jerusalem’s beach.”
Funny but not a joke, A Girl Who Lived Near the Sun tells of an intergalactic traveler on board a space shuttle to visit a girl he recently met. En route, he dutifully calls his bubby on his holograph device. As is her habit, she kvetches, “you’ve been traveling all over the solar system without popping by to visit.” But why return to earth to study “psychological engineering” when he can spend his time with Ayela on her very own planet.
Ayela bought the planet “cheaper than a two bedroom apartment in Petah Tikvah. Resourceful Ayela renovated and cooled her residence to a comfortable 51 degrees with aid from the “atmospheric system” on sale at Space Depot. Her planet however has no communication signal. How does she maintain her sanity? Moreover, how does he manage without her when he returns to earth?
Whether we read about a madcap adventures of an eighty-year-old grandfather who joins the Golani infantry, or a girl who lives in her dreams or the videographer who exhibits his exciting life in Berlin on the internet, all the while residing in nothing-ever-happens Hadera, each story teems with intimacy and distinctive portrayal of the human condition.
Beautifully wrought in gorgeous prose Jerusalem Beach is a dazzling debut of talent and insight far beyond the author’s years.
September 21 Elizabeth and Justin James
September 15 Daryl Gray
September 16 Pamela Garron
September 17 Edward Weinman
September 18 Alexander Blustein Gabrielle Sheikhet Alison Bisk
September 19 Joshua Kreitzer
September 20 Brett Batoff Sam Bobo Rob Bovarnick Albert Tawil-Brown Dale Solomon Joel Gondelman
September 21 Lisa Stein Hannah Walk
YAHRZEIT OBSERVANCES
Meyer Harry Geller Benjamin Witlin Marshall Linsky Pauline Magdovitz Sidney Walker
Sam Greenberg Alfred Fradgi Bismuth Mannie Sheidler Esther Tobin Robert Brookins
If you would like to honor your loved one with a Yahrzeit Plaque, please click on the link below.
Tampa Jewish Memorial Gardens Plot space is available at the Tampa Jewish Memorial Gardens operated by Congregation Rodeph Sholom (formerly the New Rodeph Sholom Cemetery). Rodeph Sholom Members $3,000 and Non-Members $3,500 per plot. Price includes perpetual care. Interfaith family section available. Payment plans may be arranged. Please contact the synagogue office at 813-837-1911 or email at info@rsholom.org.
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