Page 28 - Jewish News_January-2021

28A January 2021 COMMUNITY FOCUS

Great Aviva stories

By Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz, Community Chaplain
’ve experienced several fascinating by train instead and take a ferry to This prompted Ulin and some class- Robert Stack
conversations, small-world stories England. In order to avoid raising sus- mates to travel to Washington to seek After years in the clothing business,
Iand humorous interactions at Aviva picions, they never cancelled the boat redress. When Massachusetts’ senior Robert Stack returned to school to be-
- A Campus for Senior Life in the last tickets. senator rebuffed them in a Capitol hall- come a social worker. One of his first
few months. Here is a sampling. Jack Rosenblum way, they then knocked on the door of placements was in a hospital setting
Carolyn Kaplan When Jack Rosenblum scored high- the state’s junior senator. Though they whose staff included one other mem-
Shortly after Hitler’s ascension as ly on a series of military tests, he was had to wait several hours, when John ber of the Jewish faith. Once, when
German Chancellor, Carolyn Kaplan assigned to an artillery unit as a forward F. Kennedy returned from an extended another staff member got a bad cold,
shared that a Brownshirt (member of observer. During the Battle of Okina- session on the floor of the Senate, he she prepared several servings of chick-
the Nazi militia) wa, he advanced ahead of his unit to warmly welcomed them into his office. en soup for him. Feeling much better
entered her class- the front lines in order to report back by After listening to the students explain sooner than anticipated, he asked her
room one morn- phone the locations of enemy emplace- the situation, Kennedy said, “Boys, it what made the soup so effective. She
ing. He sternly ments. When his unit fired, their mor- seems to me you got screwed.” After replied that it contained “Jewish pen-
announced that tar shells flew over Rosenblum’s head. Democrats regained a majority in the icillin.” He and other staff members
if Germany were The Japanese quickly calibrated the lo- Senate in the fall, Ulin wrote Kennedy, were mystified by this response as they
to stay strong, the cation of the unit and fired back with who then contacted the Air Force. A actually thought there might be such
nation must deal artillery of their own. Several members short time later, Ulin and his classmates a thing. The Jewish woman, probably
with its weak- of the unit whom Jack knew well were received word that the Air Force had re- giggling inside, didn’t say anything for
Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz ness. He pointed killed. During a visit with him, Rosen- versed its stance and they received their a few months. But, ever the punster,
to her and another Jewish child, iden- blum also recited by heart an elaborate commissions as originally planned. Bob piped up, saying, “It’s not Jew-
tifying them as the cause of this weak- Purim spiel he’s been working on for Bob Greenfield ish penicillin but another medication,
ness. After ordering Carolyn to move several years. Though it has many in- Bob Greenfield, a former educator Bubba Meisin.”
from the first to the last row of the triguing twists and turns, he resolves from Illinois, mentioned to me that Many Aviva residents are original-
room, the Brownshirt then flipped over them with great creativity and humor. he’d taught English for a time at a ly from New York. Sometimes, there
her desk. Carolyn clearly remembers He hopes to see the spiel performed small college in the Chicago area. He can be a tendency among them to think
watching all the ink from the inkwell when the pandemic is behind us. didn’t mention the name because he that anything west of the Hudson River
splatter on the floor. That was the last Walt Ulin didn’t think I’d have heard of it. When is merely flyover country. I, therefore,
day she attended the school, located in While studying at Harvard, Walt Ulin I asked him for the name, he replied, have relished sharing a story in their
a small town 50 miles outside of Frank- participated in Air Force ROTC and “Lake Forest.” We both laughed when company from my teenage years.
furt. Her family subsequently sought to expected to receive his commission at I shared that my father had attended the Every summer our family would
leave Germany by sea. However, when graduation. However, during his senior school. In fact, I told Bob I possessed a travel from Ohio to visit my grand-
they heard that authorities planned year, the Air Force changed the rules so Lake Forest yearbook that has a photo father, who lived in Flushing, Queens,
to arrest her father just before board- that four years of service were required of two members of the school’s debate New York. One year, my beloved Cin-
ing their ship, they decided to leave for the commission rather than two. team, my father and probably Lake cinnati Reds happened to be playing
Forest’s most famous graduate. Bob the New York Mets while we were
paused a moment and then correctly there. Since we were staying so close
responded, “Richard Widmark.” to Shea Stadium, I just had to see The
Jon Weisbaum Big Red Machine in action. But, hardly
When I visited with Jon Weisbaum, I eager to draw attention to my foreigner
knew nothing about his background. status in enemy territory, I didn’t wear
However, I smiled broadly when I anything that suggested my loyalty
learned he was from Cincinnati be- was not to the Mets. Sitting in the right
Visit our web site
and call to order. cause the Queen City is my hometown field upper deck, I watched with great
www.caribbeanpieco.com as well. Not only this, but we attended pride as the Reds, featuring stars John-
the same high school and knew some ny Bench, Pete Rose and Joe Morgan,
SERVING THE SUNCOAST FOR OVER 30 YEARS! people in common. While I’d been were introduced and took the field. But
raised fairly close to Cincinnati’s cen- this wonderful moment was quickly
ter, Jon grew up in a lovely, predomi- spoiled when a couple of rows be-
Buying or Selling? nantly Jewish suburb called Amberlea hind me, a group of Met rowdies got
Call Realtor David Weiman that folks in my neighborhood con- up and yelled, “Send these farmers
®
sidered a kind of residential Promised
home.”
Residential Agent / Business Broker Land. I told him that when our family Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz serves as the
DavidWeiman@WagnerRealty.com moved to Sarasota 12 and a half years Community Chaplain and Director of
www.DavidWeiman.WagnerRealty.com ago, we found a home in a subdivision JFCS’s Jewish Healing Program and

Fluent in Hebrew. Active member of the called Amberlea, and that when we the Director of Spiritual Services for
Jewish Federation and Community. moved in, I called friends in Cincinnati Aviva - A Campus for Senior Life. His
Call David to let them know I’d finally made it to positions are underwritten by The Jew-
941.404.5898 Amberlea. ish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

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