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Sunday School Sunday School at the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism offers classes for grades kindergarten through Bar/Bat Mitzvah and a playgroup for children ages 0-5 during school hours. In small classes, and through art, music, texts, and games, students learn about Jewish culture, history, and holidays, receiving a rich Jewish experience from a humanistic perspective. Here kids pose under the succah they decorated. READ MORE
Adult Programs A full slate of adult programming engages members and guests (and sometimes the public) throughout the year. Sunday morning adult ed might be a book discussion (led by CHJer Susan Boyar), a rap group, a talk on a Jewish or humanistic topic -- or a guest lecturer. At least two evening programs per month during the congregational year (September through June) are scheduled, often in members' homes and sometimes at larger venues. A white elephant Chanukah party for adults is a longstanding tradition as is the Yom Hashoah commemoration in April.  READ MORE
Northeast Regional HJ Conference Westchester CHJ hosted the first regional gathering of HJ congregations across the North East  on April 9th. Eight CHJers were among the 53 delegates who gathered at the Unitarian Church in White Plains for a full day of sharing ideas and practices and getting to know one another. SHJ Rabbi Miriam Jerris came from Birmingham, Michigan to participate. According to attendees, it was a great success. READ MORE.

Member's Op-Ed: A Cautionary Tale

by Susan Lamy

In December I went to see my primary care physician for a physical so that I could have a cataract removed. It was just a formality, as I was in perfect health. I am a very active person, walk two to four miles almost every day, take gym classes a few times a week including Zumba. My blood pressure and cholesterol counts were ideal.

Although an EKG was not required for the cataract surgery, I said to my doctor, “You know, maybe you should do an EKG. Recently I had to slow down my walking because of a funnly liittle feeling, as if the cold was making it harder to breathe."  My doctor replied, “We're doing an EKG --  and tomorrow, you are going for a stress test.”

The EKG was perfect, but my doctor insisted on the stress test.  The next day, expecting to be pushed to my maximum, I put on workout clothes. There would be five three-minute segments on a treadmill, each one faster and with higher elevation. Fine with me.

No sooner than I was hooked up and the treadmill started (at a turtle’s tempo), the staff started asking me if I was okay.  I told them yes, but they kept adjusting the wires and finally stopped the test.  "There were some irregularities"  and the cardiologist would be right out.  The doctor came out and said, “This is a very, very, very unhappy stress test.”

I didn't  panic until he said he had already phoned my primary care physician since there was no time to lose!  In his office, he asked about my parents. I told him that my mother is 90 years old but my father had died of a heart attack just before his 72nd birthday. We had been out for the evening and I was dancing the lindy with him when he said he wasn’t feeling well and we sat down. Perhaps 30 seconds later he simply died.

The cardiologist said, “The only thing you did wrong is get on the wrong line when they were giving out genes.”

He said that I needed to check into the hospital so that the arteries surrounding my heart could be checked. If the problem was a small artery or two, it could be fixed with angioplasty and stenting. However, “if the problem is in the main artery, we will have to do open heart surgery.”

He showed me the treadmill test results and explained that a normal test would show no change from stillness to movement. On my test, all seven graph lines instantly changed direction when I moved. The doctor prepared me to expect the bigger deal: open heart surgery.

If that were the case, I asked, should I be going to New York for the surgery? I could, he said, but Bridgeport Hospital has a wonderful cardio department and fine surgeons. 

In parting I asked if he wanted me to skip my Zumba class the next day.  "NO Zumba," he replied.  "I want you to go home and be a couch potato until you come to the hospital on Wednesday."

On Dec. 22nd I checked into Bridgeport Hospital for the procedure to get a good look at my arteries and fix them if possible. While I was still on the table, the cardiologist said, “Susan, this won’t work, we need to do open heart surgery. There is a blockage in the main artery.”

The following morning I was taken to surgery where Dr. Robinson and his team performed a double bypass of my main artery. I was in surgery for over five hours. When I recovered enough to be coherent, I was told that I had had a “silent killer in my body,” which could have killed me instantly at any moment. Of course, my Zumba became a legend in the hospital, as very few cardiac patients are Zumba aficionados.

I received wonderful care at Bridgeport Hospital. My surgeon saw me two or three times a day. He was not only a fine surgeon, but a wonderful man, kind and sensitive. He listened and responded, and he was accessible, even after I left the hospital.

I must stress that had I not needed a pre-op exam before the cataract surgery, I never would have seen a doctor for the “funny little feeling” I experienced.  I was extremely lucky that I mentioned it to my doctor and that he heard me. It saved my life.

I am also very lucky that I have no plaque anywhere in my coronary arteries nor in the carotids. But I did have two obstructions in the main artery which could have cut off every drop of blood going to my heart in an instant, had they moved. Now I have no restrictions at all, not even of what I eat.  I am now in a cardio rehab program, working out on a treadmill and other equipment while being monitored, building up my strength so I can get back to my Zumba class.

I have written this because I feel that we don’t often listen to our bodies, nor do we want to complain to a doctor, lest we be considered a pest. Well, I am living proof that we must report what we feel if it is out of the ordinary, even if it doesn’t seem extreme. I never thought something dangerous was going on when I had to slow my pace while walking on a cold day. Oh yes, it seems that when we are cold our arteries constrict. Since I had a blockage which was already limiting the blood flow to my heart, the further constriction of the arteries due to the cold exacerbated the situation and gave me angina, my “funny little feeling.”

Read All About Us!

 Look what Beth Ulman discovered! She went to the Westport News' website and typed "humanistic" in the Search box at the top of the page.  The results are dynamic, which means they will change as new articles meet the criteria, but scroll down and you'll see a history of the Congregation's recent finest moments, with photos. Many of these articles were contributed by Beth herself. Thank you, Beth. Try it yourself!

What's Happening

SAT May 19, 10:45 am
Rachel Tomarkin Bat Mitzvah
SUN May 20, 9:30 am -11:45 am
Sunday School & Graduation
Bedford Middle School, Westport
FRI May 25, 12:00 am
Friday Night Program
TBA
SUN May 27, 10:00 am
Women's Rap
Location Judith Meadmore
SAT Jun 02, 3:30 am
Bar Mitzvah- Scotty Luntz
New Canaan Country School,545 Ponus Ridge, New Canaan
SUN Jun 03, 10:00 am
Men's Rap
Home of Mitch Tilkin
SAT Jun 09, 10:00 am
Book Group-Hideous Kinky
Location Home of Joan Shaw
SUN Jun 10, 10:00 am
Women's Rap
TBA
SAT Jun 16, 12:00 am
Annual Meeting
LOCATION TBA
SUN Jul 29, 10:00 am
Women's Rap
TO BE DETERMINED

Yom HaShoah

Every year, the congregation commemorates those who died during the Holocaust in a Yom Ha'Shoah commemoration.  Survivors in the Congregation and in the community often participate.2012 memoorial candles

The 2012 Yom Ha'Shoah program was very moving.  In addition to hearing Lou Reens talk about his experience of being sent away from his family in order to survive the Nazi occupation of Holland, Zelig Preis told us a new story--one about recently meeting a Polish nurse in the hospital who told him about all the non-Jewish Polish tradesmen who had worked at Oswiecem (Auschwitz) and were then slaughtered so they could not go home and tell anyone about what they had seen.  Then Manny Lobel, a survivor we had not met before, told about leaving Berlin for Shnghai when he was four and then celebrating his bar mitzvah on a ship from Shanghai to San Francisco.  These are the stories of the past and the present.

2012 scotty luntzOne of CHJ's mitzvah students, Scotty Luntz, talked about his bar mitzvah project (The Warsaw Ghetto) and then read a poem he wrote about the Holocaust.  He is the future.  Our prayer is that his generation does a better job of "never again."  I am sharing his poem here for those who did not hear it in person.

Until next year,
Gail Ostrow


“The Boy”

A boy goes in his house to find his parents gone
He looks to see a man taking his friend’s mom
He sees a baby thrown against a wall
He sees a flag hung in the city that makes him scared
A temple is burned to ashes
The Torah is taken
He asks God to save his family
He doesn’t hear a reply
He hears a man knocking on the door
The boy doesn’t answer
The man breaks the door and comes in the house
The boy hides
The boy looks through the window and sees his parents
A man with a gun comes to his parents
Now, his parents are truly gone
The boy is gone
Put in a barbed wire fence
He takes a shower
Now, the boy is truly gone

By Scotty Luntz © 2012
Thanks to Joyce Laitman and the Westport Minuteman for the photos. More of Joyce's photos are on the Yom HaShoah page and the Adult Programs page.