Katie Frankle and David Goldman, 2013 A daughter’s dream and a furry suit brought us to Oak Park Temple.
After watching two cousins become B’nai Mitzvah, our eldest convinced us that she wanted to undertake the preparation and become Bat Mitzvah too. We had lived in Oak Park for a couple of years but were not yet members of a congregation; it was time to commit. We began exploring nearby choices and had attended services at two houses of worship when we arrived at Oak Park Temple on Purim. The members were friendly and pleasant. But we were not prepared for the rabbi to materialize on the bima wearing a squirrel costume, tail included, followed by the president of the congregation decked out as Fidel Castro, cigar in hand. Wow…a congregation with a sense of humor. We decided to give it a try We chose well. We found a meaningful spiritual center and have made many lifetime friends here. And as expected, we’ve had lots of fun within and through our affiliation with OPT. Both our children became B’nai Mitzvah and were confirmed at Oak Park Temple in meaningful ceremonies that brought our far flung families together for wonderful, joyous celebrations. And our daughter started down a path to her life calling here, now well on her way to becoming a rabbi herself.
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Katie Frankle – October, 2013
My favorite moment of the High Holidays occurs in the waning hours of Yom Kippur afternoon. Cantor Green’s voice has filled the sanctuary with the sacred beauty of Leonard Bernstein’s glorious music to the Twenty-Third Psalm. We have thumped our chests one last time asking forgiveness for our missteps of the past year. It is then that Paul Levin ascends the bima for the reading that has been his as long as I have been a member of Oak Park Temple. In his sonorous, basso profundo voice he begins: “The day is fading; the sun is setting; the silence and peace of night descend upon the earth…’ I gaze behind him and, indeed, the last rays of sunlight are shining through the stain glass windows that flank the Ark. A contemplative silence settles on the sanctuary as he recites the prayer book hope for a bright new year for humanity and the earth. It is a spiritual coda after ten days of prayer and reflection; I listen in a weakened state of hunger, before quotidian life begins anew. Shortly thereafter the Shofar is sounded; Rabbi Weiss savors a sip of wine, his first liquid in 24 hours, and extinguishes the Havdalah candle, marking the end of the High Holidays. I head home for sustenance cleansed and renewed. |
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