COMMUNITY

Seniors

Freilache Menschen, the seniors group that has been meeting at Congregation Shir Hadash for 10 years, has grown to some 110 members, with monthly programs attracting 40 people or more.

Meetings

The group meets at 11:30 a.m. the second Thursday of each month, giving local seniors the chance to visit, eat lunch, and hear a speaker or program.

Friends and family are invited to participate, and asked to make a $3–5 donation towards the cost of lunch. Dessert is brought in by the alternating half of the group in attendance. For more information on Freilache Menschen, contact Shir Hadash at (408) 358–1751 x5.

Programs and Activities

Freilache Menschen programs have included topics and presenters including:

  • “Products to make life easier”, a show-and-tell of resources for older people brought by an eldercare consultant

  • Rabbi Aron presented “Our Heroes” in the Sukkah

  • Rabbi Levenberg discussed “Women of Valor”

  • Rabbi Fleekop talked about “Weinberg and Wontons: The Love Affair Between Jews and Chinese Food”

  • Cantor Felder-Levy presented “Broadway Show Tunes”

  • “Driving Safer, Longer” was discussed by an AARP representative

  • Author Rena Krasno who wrote Jewish Oldtimer’s Shanghai

  • Author Philip Spiegel, Triumph Over Tyranny

  • Heidi Emberling, presenting her own story both live and on video along with her movie, “Tangled Roots;”

  • Julie Ellis from the Jewish Partisans Association

  • Rose Levine, docent at the Magnes Museum, presented “Gold Fever the Sequel;”

  • Shir Hadash’s clergy have also talked with the group about the Rabbinic construction of masculinity, Yiddishe Lidelache and Arab-Jewish dialogue.