By Charlene F. Kahn , Special to JTNews
For those in the 60-and-over set, three area synagogues and the Stroum Jewish Community Center have gotten together to create opportunities to socialize over home-cooked, balanced lunches. Each location offers a variety of activities: A film series, bingo or Mah Jongg, or musical performance. But the main, and most popular, course is the socializing.
Retired lawyer Mo Epstein attends the Herzl-Ner Tamid Daytimers program on Mercer Island. He noted the social value in the event: It “brings us out,” he said. “The food is good, and there’s camaraderie. I see people I haven’t seen in a while.”
Rachel Calderon is a member of the Sephardic Bikur Holim Social Club, where she helps to cook and takes reservations for the lunches. For Calderon, a long-time congregant, “these lunches are fantastic, and it’s nice to see people come out and enjoy themselves,” she said. “People have to get out and come together.”
For many of the attendees at the Daytimers events, it’s often the only opportunity they may have to see old acquaintances with whom they’ve lost touch.
“I come here because I get to see people I don’t normally,” said Ruth Fligstein, who lives at The Summit at First Hill retirement residence. “I come here [to Herzl-Ner Tamid] because this is my synagogue.”
Some folks “cross over” and attend more than one community lunch: Fanny Marchevsky, also a member of Herzl-Ner Tamid, enjoyed a recent meal at Ezra Bessaroth’s Lunch and Lashon group.
“The lunch was magnificent,” she said. “Wven the rolls were homemade!”
In Diane and Mason Lilly’s case, the couple moved to the Seattle area in 2005 to be closer to their son and family; they brought successful adult education program ideas along with their furniture.
“We were among the founders of the DayTimers program at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Maryland,” recalled Diane Lilly.
The Herzl Daytimers program was “born out of an effort to meet people,” she said. “That was four-plus years ago. Mason and I alternate researching, writing and delivering introductions to the film, chosen by committee and often rented from Video Judaica’s collection.”
Attendee Muriel Epstein, who has a background in dietetics and nutrition, heads up the kitchen crew. Sometimes the film’s theme influences the spread: The July 7 film, Sixty Six, featured a picnic-style meal.
The two Sephardic synagogues in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood alternate serving the monthly lunches. At Sephardic Bikur Holim, Eli Varon has been cooking meals for the Social Club and special occasions for 10 years. Varon is somewhat of an anomaly, as he is younger than the people he serves, but he enjoys coming in to prepare the meals. “These people are great,” he said. “I listen to stories of their fun times. It’s a good crowd to be around.”
Varon’s menu often consists of traditional Sephardic-style meals that have included Avicas con arros — rice and beans — or macaroni rinadoes — hamburger and macaroni. “We also include salate (salad), bread, vegetable and dessert, sometimes biscochos,” he said.
At Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, just north of SBH, Lunch and Lashon is organized by members of the Ladies Auxiliary. Treasurer Esther Lee Sadis started the lunches more than 13 years ago, taking reservations and preparing meals.
“It’s a nice warm and comfy lunch,” she said. “We are not out to make money. It’s a nice way of seeing people – it’s a full meal deal. Most of us don’t eat dinner that night.” Meals range from chicken or salmon to traditional Sephardic specialties.
The Stroum Jewish Community Center’s lunch programs feature an educational or musical component as a draw. In addition to those who drive themselves, buses from three different retirement communities drop off guests, according to Roni Antebi, the JCC’s seniors program coordinator. A recent program consisted of a buffet lunch followed by the Bay-Area Klezmer band Red Hot Chachkas. The meals are cooked on-site by the staff in the JCC’s kosher kitchen or brought in from kosher caterer Nosh Away.
Antebi sees the “auditorium filling up with music, lectures and laughter. Once you open the door in your mind and heart to learning more about Jewish life and culture, we find people…come back to the J to keep learning more.”