By Anne Boher, Special to the Jewish Sound
Note: This piece complements Erin Pike’s story, The Jewish capacity for love.
Recently, Emily Ziskind, director of life enrichment at The Summit at First Hill, asked my husband Leslie and me if we’d like to join a group of young people from Hillel’s JConnect who wanted to visit and mingle with senior couples in celebration of the Jewish holiday that honors love: Tu b’Av. The couples from the older and younger generations would come together and share information that would hopefully strengthen the marriages of the young couples just starting out.
We had previously been invited to join with them and a group of Holocaust survivors for lunch, and based on that lovely occasion we eagerly accepted the invitation.
We were surprised to find more than 10 Summit senior couples joined by an equal number of young couples. At first the scene resembled a high school dance, with the “juniors” at one end of the room and the “seniors” at the other! Emily quickly took charge and asked everyone to introduce themselves, starting with the younger group. The seniors were asked how long we had been married, how we met, and whether we had any advice for marital happiness — perhaps with an interesting anecdote. The young couples had similar stories, except instead of blind dating, they found each other on computers!
Bill Schmidt, a Summit resident, advised a couple who had been together five years to take the leap into marriage, saying, “What are you waiting for?”
Schick and Frieda Feinberg, a Summit couple, shared that their love had eventually produced 51 grandchildren! Leslie and I had a chance to talk about our exciting married life, which began with an earthquake during the wedding ceremony, and a forest fire that delayed our honeymoon!
After the icebreaker, Emily asked the young couples to break into groups with the senior couples of their choosing. Soon the room reverberated with laughter and animated conversation. We felt lucky to have been chosen by a delightful couple. The young lady recently qualified as a psychiatrist and now works at the VA hospital. The young man just started medical school and they now have a young child. The young lady hopes to persuade her grandmother to move to Seattle and maybe move into The Summit! We had a lot in common and were captured by their charm and intelligence.
We all shared refreshments and all too soon it was time to say goodbye. Afterwards we seniors expressed our pleasure at meeting such an attractive and attentive group of young people. We hope we have a chance to visit with them again!