Memories of Temple Isaiah
These memories which you have shared exemplify the mission of Temple Isaiah in every way. As we enter our 7th decade, and celebrate our history and our future, we hope that you will continue to embrace this community and to create meaningful memories through prayer, service, study and celebration. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their special memories, and to all of you for your own contributions to Temple Isaiah.
Memories of Temple Isaiah From Our Members Who Joined 1993-2002
Having both of my Holocaust survivor parents attend their first Bat Mitzvah of a grandchild since emigrating to the U.S. from Poland in 1939, having Rabbi Shanks officiate at the wedding of our eldest daughter under a chuppah made by my wife, daughter, family members and friends, attending the initial men’s group retreat in Danville in the late 90’s that ultimately led to the re-invigoration of Temple Isaiah’s Men’s Club, now known as Anshei Isaiah. – Dave Solomon
Going to the High Holidays services on the one-month anniversary of 9/11 with our new born son. It was such a solemn day for everyone and having a newborn there brought a note of hope that only a baby can. – Diana Sutherland
Sharing the pride and joy of watching our son and daughter become Bar and Bat Mitzvah on the TI bimah. There are few things more memorable than celebrating a mitzvah surrounded by those you love in a place of such welcoming and warmth. – Erin Bloom
Interacting with our wonderful clergy, and getting to know lots of great people, both through committee/board work and unofficially and socially. TI rocks! – Larry and Michele Downes
A few years back, I had the high honor of serving as president of Temple Isaiah, a daunting task as any past president would tell you. During this time many people both from Temple Isaiah and the Contra Costa Jewish Day School were able to craft and complete an agreement for a permanent home for the CCJDS on our campus. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of what we’ve done. – Maynard Lichterman
Julena’s amazing Bat Mitzvah, singing with the choir on High Holy Days and most important - the day Rabbi Shanks invited me to be part of the Temple Isaiah community…always caring, supportive, listening, and heartwarming. – Cynthia Frankel
My son Eric, who is now 14, starting Gan Ilan preschool at Temple Isaiah and him becoming a Bar Mitzvah and now continuing on with Noar Night, and my daughter Danielle, who is now 20, going to Hebrew and Sunday school at the temple, becoming a Bat Mitzvah there and then going on to be confirmed and finally graduating in 12th grade from the teen school program. Also, all the wonderful friendships and connections that we have all made through being part of Temple Isaiah! – Michelle and Marc Burnstein
Soon after we had joined Temple Isaiah and were attending Torah study class one Saturday morning. Someone asked what a certain passage meant and Rabbi Graetz proceeded to explain. The Rabbi took time to very clearly define what was written. Then another congregant raised his hand and said, “I don’t quite see it that way. I think…” After listening to the explanation the Rabbi shrugged his shoulders and said, “Could be.” At that moment, I knew I was in the right place! – Richard Lemyre
For me, it is an honor and privilege to be a member of the Temple Isaiah congregation. For 16 years, we have had the opportunity to worship and learn under the guidance of our outstanding rabbis, to make loving friends, to laugh and cry together over events … both public and private. In addition, myriad volunteer choices have given us the chance to help whenever we can … from clerical work in the rabbis’ offices, cooking meals for a fellow congregant, Winter Nights and Mitzvah Day … to donning a hard hat to help build a temple and tutoring at a local school. For me, the best thing of all is Mizmor. It is truly a joy to make music on Shabbat with Cantor Korn. – Barbara Lemyre
My best old memory is from my Bar Mitzvah, and I was chanting my Torah portion. My voice cracked in the middle, and Cantor Cotler said, “You did a great job of changing octaves.” What a great man he was…making a 13 year old kid feel great about his voice cracking. Another memory, during Michael’s Bar Mitzvah, I asked Michael to take a little time, look out over the congregation and take mental snapshots to remember this meaningful event. The Rabbi aptly pointed out that it would be better to take a mental movie and remember everything about his Bar Mitzvah. Good advice, hopefully he did. – Robert Berg
The baby naming of our twins – their trees are still growing, meeting for baby group with 12 other TI moms and infants, and later the first day of Gan Ilan, my first committee meeting in which I met someone who has become a dear and treasured friend, Mitzvah Days, dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah, the B’nai Mitzvah of our 3 children, confirmation, and even Board meetings! – The Rideouts
One memory we cherish is the pride and joy we felt watching our children prepare for and then become bar/bat mitzvah. Another meaningful experience has been participating in Winter Nights, Temple Isaiah’s gift that truly exemplifies the Jewish value of repairing the world – Nora and Ken Fishbach
We joined in late summer 1994 in time to have our 3 children participate in the September Consecration service. Rabbis Graetz and Shanks were welcoming and Larry Harris was very engaging as the Education Director. Very different than the staid East coast synagogue of my youth. I do not remember what year Cantor Boris started; his booming voice was husband Reid’s first real exposure to traditional melodies. Classroom walls were pushed aside to open the space for Friday night pot luck dinners followed by Israeli dancing - how we tried sing the loudest to have our table be invited to get in line for dinner. We joined our Havurah perhaps in 1998 - and continue to celebrate with these special families. We were sorry to say goodbye to Larry, but greeted the energy and enthusiasm of Debbie Enelow. Cantor Kazinsky departed, Joel and Michael Secour kept us in music and then Cantor Becker arrived in time for my adult B’nai Mitzvah and our son’s Bar Mitzvah April 2000 and twins B’not Mitzvah. Our January 2002 service may have been the last Shabbat morning service in the old sanctuary - work had already begun in the oneg area and kitchen -we hosted kiddush in the Beit Knesset. Our son’s class may have been the 2nd 7th grade fund experience - Aaron started a wonderful teaching experience for all of us. Seventh grade trips to LA were rights of passage! We were excited to have our kids participate as campers and then as counselors in Camp Kefli. There are many fond memories created at Temple! – Phyllis and Reid Edwards
One of my favorite memories was the family Shabbat which was my first Shabbat at TI. It was an opportunity to meet new friends and old and some of my closest friends I met at the family Shabbat. The other memory is of watching my daughter grow at Temple Isaiah through participation at summer camp (the end of year camp program was a lifesaver for a working mom), religious school, Bat Mitzvah, youth groups –Anachnu through Lafty and then the board of Lafty. TI fostered her strong Jewish identity which continues to this day. Another memory is watching the building of our school building. – Lisa Hirsch
I’m Jeanie Goldeen Conneran, daughter of Barbara and Sam Goldeen (founders of Temple Isaiah), and I have lots of great memories. I remember services in what is now the temple house and religious school there too. One year, Shlomo Carlbach came to temple and we all danced and sang for hours, it was wonderful, he made everyone feel special. My Bat Mitzvah was in 1966 and I remember being one of the first five or six at Temple Isaiah to ever have one. I loved being the only girl in my Hebrew class. I do remember that many of the prayers we did during services were in English, I remember those prayers too, such as: Thou shalt love the lord your God. – Jeanie Goldeen Conneran
A very special memory I treasure is the lovely Passover Seders we used to have at the Temple. Our family is on the East Coast and holidays are a lonely time for us. The Passover dinner & Seder was a delicious way to connect with our Isaiah Family and feel connected to our Jewish community. It was most appreciated. – Sherri & Howard Goldsmith
I literally had to do a rough draft of a list of candidates from our 13 amazing years in this community of dear friends. Bill and I had just moved to Lafayette when I insisted (with Bill definitely dragging heels) that we attend High Holy Day services at Temple Isaiah. After hearing Rabbi Graetz’ moving sermon about his boyhood in South America where the congregation wore white, and how this vision of shrouds was a call to arms to live life fully in the new year, Bill turned to me and said, “we’re joining this Temple.” OR how our outreach committee planned a program to talk about how to wear comfortably how religious or spiritual one wants to be, and we called it “My father was a communist – can I still be Jewish?”, and to our amazement and delight, the room was packed with senior citizen – red babies whose parents really were American communists or socialists! OR how whenever families celebrated a bar or bat mitzvah, we would squeeze each other’s hands, never losing hope that one day, some day, that would be us; OR how Rabbi Graetz and Rabbi Shanks visited Bill in the hospital; OR how my most spiritual and peaceful times are in a service when the sermon evokes a past memory of my grandparents or parents or brother or cousin, and for that moment, they are sitting with me in the sanctuary. – Meagan Van Zak