Page 400 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
If you were to walk to the end of our cul-de-sac on Farragut Road, take the trail through the small wooded area that bordered the end of the street, and thereby emerge on Lenox Place, you would be able to see Westchester Reform Temple across Mamaroneck Road. It was at most another one hundred and fifty yards away. Not only would that be con- venient for us, but also, if we joined, we would be able proudly to say that we don’t drive on the Shabbos, or as the Reform and Sephardic Jews would say, on “Shabbat.”
So here we were, a family very much younger than those who tra- ditionally join temples, walking over to the membership office of Westchester Reform, checkbook in hand. I would have thought that in the circumstance their membership officers would have either formed a welcoming committee and beat a trail to 31 Farragut Road, or sent a limo to pick us up. Wrong! Westchester Reform actually had a waiting list! And it was not a short one. They’d probably reach us in the ordinary course in two years or so; that would be before Hebrew School would start for Danny. Did we wish to put our name on the list? I don’t recall whether we did or not. What I do recall, however, is that we wouldn’t wait. Within a week or so, we became the youngest new members of (the conservative) Temple Israel Center of White Plains. Two roads diverged in a wood, and we—we took the one less traveled by. . . .
Soon thereafter, Phyllis and I were attending Sabbath services from time to time. At first, I found Rabbi Arnold S. Turetsky to be interesting and accessible, albeit a bit imperious. He would make quite a scene as he walked the Torah around the room when it was taken out and put back in the ark, timing his parade perfectly and making sure to greet every- one who was near enough to the aisle, or came to the aisle—as Phyllis did—to touch the scrolls with a previously kissed prayer book (in the case of women) or tallis (in the case of men). He was articulate and rela- tively intelligent, had a good “stage presence,” and had the habit of giving sermons in which he would set forth the issues very well but would shy away from taking firm positions—maybe to spur conversa- tion, maybe not.
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