Veterans Day

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By: Sue Talansky

Inspired by the Museum of Jewish Heritage 2003 exhibit “Ours to Fight For: American Jewish Voices from the Second World War,” and borrowing its title, the Young Israel of Great Neck hosted a special evening on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009. The program consisted of a series of speakers, a photo gallery and an artifact exhibit all designed to honor our veterans and celebrate their tremendous contribution to this country.

Escorted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy Color Guard, the veterans who were present, some of them in wheel chairs, were seated at the front of the sanctuary and introduced individually to rousing applause. After the pledge of allegiance, led by Colonel Myer Tulkoff, and the national anthem sung by Craig Resmovitz with the accompaniment of Gayle Ashkenazy, Rabbi Lerner and Sue Talansky delivered some introductory remarks.

The first speaker was Kalman Talansky, an 85- year- old Army vet, who described the journey of a yeshiva boy from Williamsburg, Brooklyn to Utah Beach, Normandy and the challenges he faced throughout. The remaining speakers were all children of veterans who paid homage to their fathers’ accomplishments. Miriam Ellenberg spoke about her father, Mendel Weinberg, a German refugee from Berlin who was inducted even before he was naturalized and then trained in army intelligence at the famous Camp Ritchie before he was sent back to Europe as an army officer. Burt Cohen described the contributions of his father, Rabbi Eugene Cohen, a dedicated and beloved army chaplain, who helped Jews both military and civilian. Stuart Feintuch spoke lovingly and humorously about the adventures of his 23- year-old father (called “Pops”) in the US Navy. Lani Pelcovitz shared the adventures of her dad, Donald Butler, who was involved in “one long chesed project” in Rome as an assistant to the chaplain there. Bert Agus then concluded with the tale of his father, Dr. Haim Agus ( nicknamed Dr. Ham and Eggs) who amongst other astonishing adventures, made rounds with General Patton.

We were all then treated to a moving rendition of “American Anthem” performed by the gifted singer Martin Mansfield and accompanied by Gayle Ashkenazy, followed by “A Prayer for our Government,” recited by Lieutenant Commander Fred Lewis of the US Navy. The formal portion of the evening ended with the singing of “Hatikvah” by Craig  Resmovitz accompanied by Gayle Ashkenazy.

Awaiting the group, in the gym, was a gallery of 52 photographs of veterans as well as an artifact exhibit of over 100 items including uniforms, letters, boots, gas masks, medals and other war-related paraphernalia. In addition there were copies of booklets entitled “Our Veterans Remember,” in which Lani Pelcovitz  had collected and edited the recollections some of our veterans or children of veterans  had submitted.

The dessert reception was appropriately themed and offered an array of red white and blue treats as well as such all-American favorites as apple pie and toll house cookies.

Emotional, meaningful, patriotic, long-over-due, our Veterans Day Program was an evening we shall remember for a long time to come.