Grand Army Plaza

We began the day early with Saturday Morning Services at Central Synagogue. It was an intimate Service in-person, but the online Community zoomed in and made it feel like home (I’m usually zoomed in with them from somewhere in the World). It was such a special day for many reasons, one being, “we were in the room”, and then getting to come up to the Torah and recite with the others, the full Shema (our central Jewish prayer and declaration of faith) from its source, not the prayer book but read from the Torah scrolls). Then 6 of us had a private tour of the Sanctuary and a history lesson from Rabbi Salth (see photos of an empty Sanctuary, so rare). We followed that experience with time at the exhibition in the Pavilion. Current exhibit is “Solitude to Solidarity” of Ukrainians finding refuge in Poland (note: I’ve only included the summary here but I do have photos of all 18 pictures and their descriptions). It felt so comforting to be at Central, like being “home”. That says something from two people that have no home right now. See https://www.friendsofjcckrakow.org

We had a relaxing afternoon with Lee, catching up on “stuff” and then enjoyed a fun dinner at an old favorite of all of ours, Ollies. Had a fun evening of Broadway theater at the Hudson, with “Alex Edelman”. On the stroll back to our hotel (our third one this week in NY) we visited with the “Top Cats” at the NYC Public Library (5th and 42nd). “Patience” (on the South) and “Fortitude” (on the North) have lived here since 1911. They are named for the qualities of NYers before and more specifically during the depression.Lue lisää