![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasAda Kleiman was eighty-mumblesomething; her husband Morrie died several years ago. The two of them had been the backbone of the shul for many years.
Temple B'nai Brith, where I teach, was founded like eighty years ago or so, and had a lot of members fifty years ago. But the neighborhood around the shul changed over time, and most of the Jews moved away, and it looked like the temple was just not going to make it as a going concern. But Ada and Morrie would have none of that. They kept the shul going -- they maintained the place physically with their own four hands, they got the word out that the community was there, they did outreach to younger families.
And the fact that the shul is still around today -- and a vibrant community -- is entirely due to their efforts. They found new people who wanted communities, they listened to those people when those people wanted to do things differently, they allowed traditions to change and grow.
To say that the Kleimans were beloved is an understatement. And Ada was, in many ways, the emotional center of the shul. It seemed as if Morrie made sure that the place worked physically, and Ada made sure that it worked spiritually.
And Ada died this morning.
It's not a tragedy. The Kleimans did what they set out to do: they build a community that could survive after them. Temple B'nai Brith is not centered around Ada -- and that's due to her efforts to make sure that was so.
Someone I love just died this morning, after a long and full life of service and care.
Funeral services will be at 11 on Sunday at Temple B'nai Brith in Somerville, in the Winter Hill area.
Temple B'nai Brith, where I teach, was founded like eighty years ago or so, and had a lot of members fifty years ago. But the neighborhood around the shul changed over time, and most of the Jews moved away, and it looked like the temple was just not going to make it as a going concern. But Ada and Morrie would have none of that. They kept the shul going -- they maintained the place physically with their own four hands, they got the word out that the community was there, they did outreach to younger families.
And the fact that the shul is still around today -- and a vibrant community -- is entirely due to their efforts. They found new people who wanted communities, they listened to those people when those people wanted to do things differently, they allowed traditions to change and grow.
To say that the Kleimans were beloved is an understatement. And Ada was, in many ways, the emotional center of the shul. It seemed as if Morrie made sure that the place worked physically, and Ada made sure that it worked spiritually.
And Ada died this morning.
It's not a tragedy. The Kleimans did what they set out to do: they build a community that could survive after them. Temple B'nai Brith is not centered around Ada -- and that's due to her efforts to make sure that was so.
Someone I love just died this morning, after a long and full life of service and care.
Funeral services will be at 11 on Sunday at Temple B'nai Brith in Somerville, in the Winter Hill area.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2002-11-29 03:42 pm (UTC)