A Community of Faith, Sharing Religious Beliefs and Traditions

The Quest for Common Ground is pleased to present a series of posts this month during this joyful holiday season in the hope of providing our community of Southington, Connecticut, and other communities of people greater understanding of the diversity of relgious beliefs rooted in their rich heritage and traditional creeds. Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of the American credo that extends beyong tolerance and reaches out to understanding so that we may love one another as we love God.  It is, our faith, after all, which offers us the values of our most cherished beliefs and religious traditions which enrich our lives in this great country.  

Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker
Gishrei Shalom Jewish
Congregation, Southington, CT

We begin today with a joyful reflection by Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker of the Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation in Southington, CT.  Please feel free to share your comments with our community.                                                                                                    

By the time you read this, Chanukah, the 8-night Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights, will be over.  I am fortunate to celebrate with family and congregants, lighting the chanukiah (Chanukah menorah) and enjoying potato pancakes, known as latkes.  They are a traditional food of the holiday but jelly donuts may be consumed as well.  It is all about the oil so any fried food will do!

As a rabbi I have been asked many times this year about Thanksgiving and Chanukah falling so close together.  I am sure you have read about it and a search of the Internet will bring up the particular calendrical computations that produced the phenomenon. But in musing on the overlap of these two days, I offer this: Thanksgiving was the feast of gratitude the early settlers of America offered for the bounty of this new land that marked their survival over the hardship of their migration to the unknown and their appreciation for religious freedom.

Chanukah Menorah

For Jews, Chanukah, is a holiday that celebrates our surmounting the oppression of the Syrian-Greeks in the second century Before the Common Era.  Chanukah represents the few overcoming the many, the fight for self-determination over subjugation.

This year however, I am more focused both personally and professionally, on the resultant separation of the Jewish holiday from Christmas. For you see, Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas and so I have an opportunity to teach that two great faith traditions celebrate joyous events both very different and very meaningful to each of us. I hope the understanding and compassion that can come from each holiday having its own fullness of time for observance signifies a wonderful new year to come.

- Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker, Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation, Southington..

An Exciting Thanksgiving Journey

I received this very special Thanksgiving Story in e-letter form from a professional colleague of mine from Seiko Corporation of America of twenty years ago.  Lynn Dansker was always the consummate professional in her work, but there's much more than that in this simple story of love and giving.  -  ERF

Lynn, Cole and Joe Dansker

Dear Friends and Family,

Joe, Cole and I would like to wish you all a safe and joyful Thanksgiving.

We will not be sharing the holiday this year with our family, instead we are embarking on an exciting journey. We would like to share this story.

A little more than 3 years ago we looked into sponsoring a child through the Adoption Agency I used to bring Cole into our lives. They offer a Sponsorship program that offers children in several countries the opportunity to attend school. In many countries in order to attend school you have to be able to purchase a school uniform and shoes. Thousands and thousands of children (maybe more) do not attend school in these countries because they do not have the means to make such a purchase. We decided we wanted to sponsor a child and give him/her the gift of education.  

We chose Guatemala because the native language is Spanish and Cole has been attending a Spanish immersion school for the past 4 years. Cole always wanted a little brother or sister and we thought it would be a great opportunity for him to feel like a big brother and a way to practice his Spanish writing skills. The little boy that we have been matched with is named Selvin. He is the youngest of 4 children and to the best of our knowledge, no one in his family has attended school. He turned 8 years old last month, and lives in a hut with no floor and no refrigerator. Our annual donation pays for his uniform and shoes. To our great joy, Selvin has completed 3 years in the sponsorship program; beginning his 4th year in January when the children return from a 2 month Holiday break.

Selvin not only has to keep his grades to a high standard, he is only allowed to miss a few days of school each year and his parents must remain engaged in the program. If these 3 qualifications are not met, he would not be able to continue in the program. The fact that he has remained in the program for 3 full years is an anomaly. Most children do not, mostly because there are so many stresses on the family that it does not remain a priority.

We have kept in touch with Selvin and his family through the Agency and have shared letters, drawings, photos over the years. We are been allowed to send him books, pencils, crayons, paper, markers (anything that is considered a school supply) but no toys or clothes or anything that his family may need.

Cole turns 9 on Sunday and next Wed is the first night of Hanukah so Joe and I decided to give Cole a birthday/Hanukah gift that he will never forget. We have surprised him with a trip  to Guatemala to meet his “little brother” and his family. We leave this Saturday Nov 23rd and return on Nov 30th. We will be sightseeing for 2 ½ days and then we have plans to spend the next few days with Selvin taking him to the zoo, swimming at the hotel pool and other activities that he probably has never been exposed to. We will meet his family as well and will be escorted by the woman who runs the Sponsorship Program in Guatemala throughout our stay. Thank goodness she is Bilingual as my college Spanish is rusty at best!!! Cole will also serve as our translator on this journey. How exciting it will be to hear him converse with Selvin in Spanish!

We are THRILLED (and a bit nervous) about our adventure,  however we are looking forward to meeting our extended family in Guatemala!!

We look forward to sharing our journey with you through stories and photographs when we return.

On behalf of Joe, Cole and myself have a great Thanksgiving holiday! Be safe!

Lynn Dansker