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Yehudim Al Galgalim (Jews On Wheels)

Escapees BOF (Birds of a Feather) groups are comprised of people who share a common interest. In order to belong to a BOF, one must be a member in good standing of the Escapees RV Club.

the fee for a subscription for the newsletter has been eliminated. Hard copies will continue to be mailed to members and prespective members who do not have email or internet access. Other members will receive an electronic version.

SKP's interested in this BOF who have internet access send me your email. SKP's without Internet or email access send me your mailing address I will get back to you as my travels and mail allow. If you do not have internet access send name, address, and SKP # to Charles Yaker, 209 Rainbow Drive #10909, Livingston, TX 77399-2009. Please write Escapees on the lower left corner of the envelope. I will send you a hard copy as soon as possible.


The following which is excerpted from an email I sent to members introducing myself will serve as a description of the newsletter and rough guidelines for submission



As Escapees we enjoy the RV Lifestyle. As members of a BOF we look for a little extra. As YAG members we should be interested in things Jewish that will increase the enjoyment of our RV lifestyle: experiences, places to visit, comfort and holiday food recipes modified for pot lucks or for one or two people.


For example the newsletter can include someone's visit to the Truman Library in Independence, MO. Truman's failed attempt as a haberdasher was with a Jewish friend who was latter instrumental in convincing Harry to support the new State of Israel. On the other hand a trip to the Little White House in Key West, FL wouldn't be acceptable. Truman vacationed and recuperated there. He drank bourbon, played poker and conducted government business. So Key West is out unless you visited the Key West mikvah (ritual bath), yes they have one and an Orthodox Jewish community as well. We didn't go to the mikvah but seeing it told us we could get Empire kosher chicken at Publix (local supermarket). We don't keep kosher but I prefer Empire to non Kosher chicken maybe it's the way it's prepared or maybe it's the salt, just don't tell my doctor.


Also out are Graceland and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN but the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas are in. Two of the three young men who where killed signing up black voters in Mississippi during the 60's where Jewish as was Jack Ruby. I know that these last two are a stretch but if I haven't got anything else I'll use them. On the other hand If I haven't got anything to publish I won't publish. So send in those articles.


Hold the jokes unless they are about Jewish RV 'ers.


I would prefer articles for the newsletter and items for the bulletin board emailed to me. remember I am flexible so this is not a hard and fast rule but whatever is practical and works for us is ok. For members without email I will accept material that can be scanned, I will post these as a jpeg (picture). If you use that option use caps throughout even though it's considered shouting in serious Internet circles. I am not sure what to do about size so for the time being lets agree that articles should be under 500 words and bulletin board items should be under 250. Pictures should be reduced to 400X300 pixels. I use that in my on line travel log and find it more then adequate for viewing and page loading. If not using email, mail items to my home address listed above. Put the word Escapees in the lower left hand corner otherwise my daughter may throw it in the junk pile.

When on the road I get mail only sporadically maybe once a month. So please be patient.

cyaker@escapees.com

Upcoming Rallies and Events

November 2005 Newsletter

Despite high gas prices and Hurricane Rita seven couples met for breakfast at the Fall Escapade in DuQuoin, IL. We ate soul food; bagels with cream cheese and lox along with rugalach and coffee. The lox was traditional, imported from Costco, while the bagels and rugalach were Midwest varieties from Kroger’s. More importantly we had a wonderful hour shmoozing (socializing). During the week couples went out to dinner together and several met one more time to shmooze.

At breakfast I had the opportunity to discuss some of my ideas about the newsletter and get some much-desired feedback.

In January I will provide a review of finances and possibly introduce a discussion regarding the status of our remaining funds. This past year, BOF dues were suspended while I evaluated expenses and a new email format. I have found expenses to be manageable. I would also prefer to bear the cost myself and not be bothered with collecting money from the members. On the other hand at least one other BOF has a separate newsletter editor and financial secretary to collect dues. If anyone is interested in the job please let me know. If nobody is interested, dues will be eliminated as long as I am the editor and expenses for the newsletter are manageable. Under those circumstances anyone feeling the need to pay their way can make a voluntary contribution to the Escapee’s Care program in the name of the BOF. Instead of dues, members will have to provide me with their SKP number and declare their desire to remain or become a YAG member. Shortly after January, I will provide members with a print copy of the roster. (I am not yet comfortable and probably never will be sending that by email). Members who require or prefer print copies of the newsletter will continue to receive them.


Several BOF’s have begun including short bios of their members, with your cooperation I would like to do the same. However I think ours will be different because it can launch a game of “Jewish geography”. Jewish geography is played when strangers meet and begin exploring their contacts in an attempt to find a mutual acquaintance. For example Debby recently met a lady from Marlboro, NJ. While exchanging pleasantries Debby mentioned that she had a cousin that lived near Marlboro. The lady a complete stranger to Debby asked the cousins name, Debby gave it to her and low and behold not only did she know Debby’s cousin but also they were also close friends. This exchange reminded Debby that she had wanted to call her cousin but didn’t have the area code. The lady provided it and Debby called her cousin although they hadn’t spoken in several years.

I am aware that several of our members are “Jews by choice” and some members may not even be Jewish nonetheless I think they can play as well. Actually I think Jewish geography is a universal game. Have you noticed that when you are in a State far from home and see somebody with your State’s license plates, you ask where in the State they are from? Occasionally somebody will see your plates and ask where in the state you are from? When you respond they will tell you of their connection with your State they may even ask you if you know “so and so”. Additionally many of us also have non-Jewish relatives. My daughter in law Jennie Nuese, who with our youngest son and grandchildren live in DeForest, WI right out side Madison, is not Jewish. She was born in Ames, Iowa; her parents live in Des Moines and Marshalltown, as do several siblings except one who lives in Denver. I suspect that the possibility that a YAG member has a connection with her or her family is greater then we might think. So let the games begin.

I was born in the French Hospital on 30th street in Manhattan. My folks who lived on 22nd St. at the time moved to the Amalgamated Houses a labor sponsored development in the Bronx when I was six months old.
Debby was born in Manhattan’s Beth Israel Hospital. Her parents lived in the Amalgamated where they had moved as young adults with their parents when the development opened in 1927.
Although there are pictures of our mothers standing next to each other as well as pictures of us next to each other we really didn’t know each other until we became counselors in training (CIT’s) in the local day camp as teenagers. Some of these pictures are posted at our web site http://www.debbyandcharlie.com. After a lengthy on again off again relationship we got married in 1963.
The Amalgamated was a very Jewish but fervently secular community. If you have read Irving Howe’s “World of Our Father” he mentions two Jewish communities in the Bronx one of which was the Amalgamated.
When we were first married we lived in the Amalgamated. Shortly after our first child was born in 1968 we moved to Co-Op City a 60 thousand family development being built by the founders of the Amalgamated in the East Bronx on the grounds that used to house the Freedom land amusement park. We had two more children while living in our Co-Op city apartment. When the schools deteriorated in New York City during the late 70’s we moved to Fair Lawn, NJ where we bought a house. Although we sent our children to Hebrew school in the Fair Lawn Jewish Center and studied there as well we are still secular Jews. In retrospect we should have looked for a secular option when we moved to Fair Lawn, as our children do not identify with Judaism as we do. We don’t attend services unless we go to a Bar Mitzvah. Although a famous Rabbi once said he goes to services to meet people we don’t seem to feel comfortable either because of our lack of knowledge or shyness. As a result we have not gone to services in the communities we travel to and through. Some call us Workmen Circle Jews for a well known fraternal organization we still belong to.
Prior to the birth of our first child we spent summer weekends at a lake about an hour and a quarter from home. We didn’t stay over but made the drive each day. When the children were born it became harder to get out of the house. After our second I convinced Debby to try camping she agreed with the attitude of trying it once and then telling me it wasn’t for her. We borrowed my brother’s tent and went to Sylvan Lake near the Workmen’s Circle Camp Kindering in Hopewell Junction; N.Y. Debby was surprised she liked it. I helped with the kids more then I did at home. She also found it easier caring for them in a tent then at home on the 16th floor of a 25-story apartment house. We continued camping in a tent for about 13 years with our three children and then bought a pop up and camped for another 13 years. When I retired we decided that we would camp and travel more and wanted inside plumbing. We took a seven-week trip to visit our grandchildren and RV trailer factories with the understanding that if we were still talking after the trip we would buy a fifth wheel. Which we did picking it up in September of 1999. After 6 years of going back to our home in Fair Lawn, New Jersey we put our home on the market this past May and went on the road fulltime.
Debby was a New York City School teacher for 30 years who worked mainly in the Southeast Bronx. After retiring she held several consulting jobs with private corporations and the Lehman College math program. After studying electrical technology I switched to Long Term Care and worked in the Hebrew Home for the Aged and Workmen’s Circle Home in the Bronx. After obtaining g a bachelors and masters degree I worked as a Nursing Home Administrator at the Daughters of Israel in West Orange, NJ and the Jewish Hospital, in Jersey City, NJ as well as a private nursing home in East Orange NJ.
Our oldest son lives with his wife in Venice, Ca. They met at Columbia University and she comes from Huntingdon Valley, PA. Her uncle was the Chief of Cardiology at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia where Eve and Irv Huppert’s daughter is a physician. Our daughter lives in Stratford, CT and is engaged to a young man from Stamford.

If any of you have questions or wish to play Jewish geography please email or snail mail me (snail mail is the internet term for mail sent through the US postal service). If the questions and comments advance the game I will put them into future newsletters. More importantly I hope that some member feels ambitious enough to provide bios for me to include in the next issue. Let the games begin.

After the Escapade in DuQuoin, IL Debby and I went to Stratford CT to spend a week or two in our daughter’s driveway dog sitting while she went to Atlanta and celebrating Rosh Hashanah in our secular way. Before Yom Kippur we left and went to a campground in Morris County, NJ about an hour from Fair Lawn and our home of 27 years. We broke fast with childhood friends who we have been breaking fast with for over 25 years and we emptied the house, which still hasn’t sold. Then we headed south for the winter and stopped in Wilmington, NC to visit a friend. Around the corner from our friend is Temple Israel built in 1876. The first Jews of Wilmington must have come from North Africa because they built an unusual Moorish style building with red, blue, and yellow stained glass windows in diamond shaped patterns. There were no Jewish symbols on the outside but there was a crescent moon and five-pointed star in the front stained glass window. The bema was in front and pews were aligned facing it. Leading one to suspect that the building was renovated since it the first Jews were Sephardic. Another possible explanation for the bema in front could be the close relationship and assistance received from Wilmington’s Christian community in building the Synagogue. There was no organized tour. We were there the day after Simchas Torah. The building was open and being cleaned by the caretaker who was friendly he showed us around and answered our questions. There was an organ and the Temple is Reform.

We continued down the coast and stopped in Charleston, SC. Charleston also has a colonial period synagogue. Temple Beth Elohim is located on Hassel St. fronted by a graceful iron fence dating from the original 1794 synagogue, which was destroyed in an 1838 fire. The building is built in a white Greek revival style reminiscent of a Georgian church in both its sanctuary plan and tall steeple. A number of architectural elements include a two-tiered octagonal lantern and an imposing portico with six fluted Doric columns of stucco over brick. The stained glass windows show Jewish symbols. It is considered one of the most well proportioned examples of Greek revival.

The community began using a very strict Sephardic services. In fact you can see where the center bema stood before it was moved to the front. Congregants dissatisfied with the strict Ladino* services left for a while but were unsuccessful forming there own congregation. After returning they were successful in having an organ installed when the synagogue was rebuilt after the fire. At that point the more orthodox members of the community left and formed their own synagogue elsewhere in Charleston. It is the oldest reform synagogue in the world, the nation's fourth oldest Jewish community and the oldest in South Carolina. This is also the birthplace of Reform Judaism in America. The Congregation of Beth Elohim was established in 1749. The conversion of the community to Reform Judaism occurred in 1840.

The community supports a Hebrew day school, which is attended by members from all three denominations and a kosher restaurant. We on the other hand went out to eat at Hyman’s Seafood and Aaron’s Deli. This is not really a Jewish restaurant although the owners are and some of the dishes have cutesy Jewish names like “goy” for a ham sandwich and “kinder” for peanut butter and jelly. The restaurant is closed on major Jewish holidays and contributes to Jewish as well as general community organizations. While it was voted number one for seafood in South Carolina I have to wonder. The food wasn’t bad and prices were reasonable but number one, I don’t know. Tables were wood with little plaques with the names of famous patrons and they have had quite a few including such Jewish luminaries as Barbra Streisand, Alan Dershowitz, Joe Leiberman, Itzak Perlman, Marvin Hamlish and Dr Ruth. The restaurant is housed in an old warehouse where the owner’s great grandfather WM Karesh started Southern Wholesale a dry goods business in 1890. His son in law took over the business in 1941 changing the name to Hyman’s Wholesale Company. His son WM Hyman continued in the dry goods business until 1986 when his sons Eli and Aaron changed the name to Hyman’s seafood and opened a restaurant at that location. The restaurant is now being run by the fifth generation, as Brad Gina, Aaron’s son-in-law is now the general manager.

From Charleston we continued down the coast to Savannah, GA and visited Temple Mickve Israel. The temple is built in the Gothic style usually associated with churches. However Mickve Israel is easily recognizable by the large six-pointed star above the entrance and was built as a synagogue. Like the other synagogues we visited this is also a reformed synagogue complete with organ and choir. Both the Charleston and Savannah synagogues have formal tours and Mickve Israel has a small museum with artifacts from the colonial period. The docent showed Debby a picture and claimed one of the women in the picture was the model for the character played by Jessica Tandy in the Hollywood movie “Driving Miss Daisy”. All three synagogues also have letters from George Washington thanking the congregants for their well wishes upon his inauguration as President of the United States. Copies are available in gift stores in both Charleston and Savannah. During our tour of Savannah we also came across a plaque, which was placed at the location of the first Jewish Cemetery in Savannah, the plaque is on Oglethorpe and Bull streets and it lists some of the people buried there.

I would like to include reports of synagogue services and the people in communities RV’ers travel through in the newsletter but since Debby and I don’t attend services you will just have to provide it. To that end and as a tie in to the last newsletter’s report of the tragedy on the Gulf Coast the Huppert’s have sent the following correspondence.

Dear Charles,
We have been in touch with the synagogue in Biloxi where we have enjoyed services quite a few times in the past. This is a small, 70 family, congregation & as a result of hurricane Katrina many of them have lost their homes & the synagogue may be damaged beyond repair. We are sending them a contribution directly and would like to suggest that other members of YAG give as they can. Checks may be made out to
Temple Beth Israel & sent to
LoriBeth Susman
378 Bertucci Blvd.
Biloxi, MS 39531

We have a copy of an e-mail from the executive director of the southeast region of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism & will gladly forward it on request. He reports on what he saw when he went there last week.
Eve & Irv Huppert
*****
While at Escapade several of us discussed the use of an Internet group for correspondence, announcement and for posting members itineraries. I am glad to announce that Janet has set up Yagbof on Yahoo. She is the moderator and participants need to be invited to subscribe.

Interested members should send a request for membership to Janet Wilder at prinjrw@aol.com. Once invited just follow the link and on screen instructions. If you do not yet have a Yahoo ID you will be required to create one. There is no charge for creating a Yahoo Id, using Yahoo mail or belonging to a Yahoo group.

There is no reason why Pocketmail users can't subscribe. Once they have a Yahoo account, they can get the list as emails.

There are several ways to get on a Yahoo list. You can choose to get individual emails, a daily digest (most people on the road choose this option as it's 1 email), to be notified when there is something posted or to not get any emails and just check the list on line. Pocketmail users can also be subscribed to Yagbof without having to set up a Yahoo account.

Members who receive a print copy can participate by using local libraries. Most libraries now have a public computer so that non-computer owners can use the internet. Sometimes there may be someone available to help novices through their initial sessions. In addition I may be able to assist by telephone. In order to join the group at the library: go to http://www.yahoo.com and create a Yahoo Id. Using free Yahoo email send Janet an email with your name and SKP number. On your next visit the library go to Yahoo mail and retrieve your mail. When your invitation comes just click on the link and follow the on screen directions.

Without your input I am going to run out of steam and things to put in this newsletter so please send your stories and your bios.


* Ladino is a language spoken by Sephardic Jews. It is based on medieval Spanish, with a mixture of Hebrew, Greek, and Turkish words, and is written in modified Hebrew characters just as the more familiar Yiddish is a German dialect with words from Hebrew, is written in Hebrew characters and spoken by Ashkenazi Jews.

BOF Officers

For more information, please contact:

E-Mail: Charles Yaker SKP 64641-cyaker@escapees.com
Phone: Charles Yaker #SKP 64641 at 201-914-0369

Mailing address:
Charles Yaker
209 Rainbow Drive #10909
Livingston, TX 77399-2009
Please write Escapees on lower left corner of envelope

For more information visit our main website at www.jewsonwheels.com.