by JRC member Charlene Gelber

I want to wish us all a Happy 60th anniversary. I wasn’t yet of age in 1964 to join this new Havura, but with my young family, joined in 1978.  I jumped right into committees, the Board, and became President in 1983. I was President while some of our future presidents were toddlers or not yet even Jewish.

Our grammatical skills needed honing because JRC should be the JRC, and yet we now keep a respectful eye on pronouns.

We were young adults trying to find a home. We met at our houses, schools in Evanston, and eventually settled on renting at the Methodist church on Hartrey, “alav hashalom.” The next step was buying the building of Mikdosh El Hagro, the synagogue that originally built our current home.

Thank you to Alan Gratch, President at the time, and all those forward-thinking members who decided we needed to really grow up. The arrangement with Mikdosh El was as if we were living with our in laws, trying to do our stuff, while the “older folks” looked on with wonder and confusion. “Oh, those kids!” Their congregation eventually dissolved and we had a home to ourselves. Those JRC members who only came for the High Holidays at First Methodist, upon hearing that we bought a building, probably thought we bought the church!

After we had a rabbi long enough, we were confronted with the concept of a rabbinical sabbatical. Who knew from this, but we learned fast and managed. Just ask Jerry Israelite, President during this “tsoris.”

We are all equal in our congregation, even in our names. No titles or initials: it is who we are, not what we do for work, even though one out of every three congregants is a therapist and the other two are in therapy.

As Reconstructionists, we are always looking for ways to keep our traditions, but making new ones, our own “minhagim.” “The past has a vote, not a veto.” We made the Torah available to all, unrolling it at Simchat Torah, for everyone to see and touch, putting our arms and tallitot around each other, adding poetry and readings to our services to give more meaning to our prayers. Our congregation has done so much to make our traditions reach us all and leave no one out.  We have been so good at this, that having gone to a recent Bar Mitzvah at a reform temple, I had a déjà-vu’-all-over-again experience.  There were readings we did and still do, even one by Mordechai Kaplan, and communal blessings, so very JRC, but yet not exactly. For there is only one JRC and it is US.

The last rabbi search brought us full circle in our congregational life. While JRC was growing up, so was a JRC student, and she returned to us as our Rabbi Rachel Weiss, spiritual leader, teacher and all around amazing woman.

We experienced many cantorial soloists and eventually found Howard Friedland. Howard, trained as an actor, played the part so well that he is now really a cantor, and he is ours. We love you Howard!

We have so many programs and groups. Our youth group and young adult group, programs so hard to maintain over the years, have flourished and accomplished so much for us. We even have the Alte Rockers and let’s not forget the Alte Cockers as well. Proud to be part of that group!

JRC members are talented, creative, diverse, inclusive, activists, leaders, volunteers, fundraisers, and to continue I would need a thesaurus.

As a congregation, we are now in our vibrant middle years, dealing with adult issues, handling our fiscal responsibilities, and willing to seek out younger members to help continue our legacy as we keep moving forward to meet the needs of our community.

And what an outstanding accomplishment to have a mortgage burning. “Burn Baby Burn!”

As we move on through our journey, may we continue to reach out and reach within, to accomplish our goals of keeping traditions, making new ones, and finding Love and Peace.

Happy 60th Anniversary JRC!