The 2016 Annual Dinner was a great success. Special thanks to our honorees Sarah & Etan Walls and Barrie & Eliot Peyser as well as to the entire Dinner committee.
The following are links to two videos presented at the Dinner plus photos from the event.
On Wednesday evening April 18th the Young Israel of Great Neck commemorated Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) with a special exhibit entitled "Ordinary Objects/Enduring Legacies" (a title borrowed from the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.) The idea for the ambitious project was born at last year's program which dealt with Sugihara and the rescue of Lithuanian Jews. After the film and discussion a member of the synagogue, Freida Lewinter, approached, Sue Talansky, the chairperson with her mother's visa, signed by Sugihara himself. At that moment Talansky realized that this relatively small congregation probably had in its attics and basements and old trunks a treasure trove of such artifacts.
Talansky assembled a committee of twelve who called each and every member of the synagogue. After three months over fifty exhibitors came together to share the hundreds of documents, letters, postcards, household objects and photos they had unearthed. Each item was painstakingly cataloged and displayed. There was a small china cup dug up in the backyard of Bart Sobel's father's home in Luboml, Poland. The postcard sent from Dachau from Henry Katz's father to his mother. The diary written in hiding by Moty Stromer, Sue Talansky's father. The letter from Einstein thanking Leon Miller's family for their rescue efforts. The gold piece hidden in the shoe of Irvin Spira while in the Slovakian forests. The program from the Nuremburg trials kept by Elliot Moscowitz's uncle. The mangled silver Torah ornaments found in a destroyed French shul by Kal Talansky, the stationery from Schindler's factory kept by Bobby Dienstag's father. A portfolio of paintings created by Morris Lewinter shortly before he left on the Kindertransport to England. And dozens more. Bridal nightgowns, birth certificates, report cards, yizkor books, newspaper articles. Each with a tale to tell and a legacy to transmit. Most significant was that each item had an extra facet of meaning because it was linked to someone within the synagogue.
And then there were the hundreds of photographs -- a Facebook of sorts for a lost generation. Men, women and children decked out in their Sabbath finest looking out at the camera never dreaming that their entire world would end so soon.
Over two hundred people attended the event and the only regret was that the viewing time was so limited. By popular request the organizers have agreed to print a catalog with photos and blurbs of each item displayed. The video below contains a sample of the objects included in this memorable exhibit.
37th Annual YIGN Dinner
The 37th annual Young Israel of Great Neck dinner was held on March 10 at the Great Neck Synagogue. This year's dinner honored Sol and Zelda Berger, Reuben and Rama Seltzer and Nira Nafisi. The 320 attendees were delighted by the surprise flash mob dance performed by our very own members. Special thanks to our dinner chairs Mindy Hercman and Debra Abittan as well as the other committee members for their efforts n making this an extremely successful event! The video below will give you a behind the scenes look at the making of the 2012 YIGN flash mob dance:
