Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1990-11-22

              THE
The, Ohio Jewish Chronicle
. 'SercmgColumbmand Central OH6  •
Imish Community for Over,60 Years
VOLUME 68
NUMBER 48
NOVEMBER 22,1990
5KISLEV5751
OEVOTfiD-T.O   AMERICAN , AND   IEWI5H- IDEALS'
Chabad rescues more
Chernobyl children
page 2
J. Margulies appointed
Israel Bonds chairman
- page 2.
A Jewish perspective
oh 'Avalon' V
page 4
Jewish Bookfair to
entertain childrenv
page 7
NCJW to sponsor
lecture at Bookfair
«... page 14
Charity Newsies to be
honored at service
-   ! ,     page 14
Concert tickets
for sale at
synagogue
page 15,
In The Chronicle
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COMMUNITY FEATURE
Thanksgiving time to reflect
on plight of homeless
By ina Horwitz
Thanksgiving, 1990 — a
time to celebrate and give
thanks for our blessings — is
also a special time to reflect
upon helping those temporarily in need, in particular, families in need of a home in Columbus and its surrounding
areas.
Two community synagogues, Temple Beth Shalom
and Temple Israel, have responded to the nation's homeless by joining the Interfaith
Hospitality Network, a Columbus-based' organization which
finds local churches and synagogues to open their doors to
the homeless on an intermittent basis.
Temple Beth Shalom and
Eastminister Presbyterian
. Church, which share a building, will hold a joint Thanksgiving service on Nov. 21 at.
7:30 p.m. All members of the
community are invited to attend.
Special guest will be Tim
Sullivan, director of the Inter-
faith Hospitality Network, a
former priest with the Catholic Campus Ministry at Ohio
State University's Newman
Center. He will be the recipient, on behalf of the Network,
of a donation taken at the
close of the service.
Sullivan said that he wants
to stress Thanksgiving as a
time to share our blessings, by
having our churches and synagogues become places of hospitality so that families "who
come out of the cold, can enter
the sanctuary of a temple or
church."
Sullivan, being from Boston,
has often reflected upon the
first Thanksgiving when Pilgrims and Indians, two different cultures, came together,
setting aside religious boundaries.
"The centerpiece of sitting
around the Thanksgiving table today," he said, "and sharing what happens at mealtime, is that same coming together of religions and cultures as it was on that very
first holiday.".
Recently, as part of the Network's program, three temporarily homeless families
and church volunteers sat
around tables at Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church
on a Saturday evening. Although the meal that night
consisted of pizza and fresh
vegetables, to the children it
could just as well have been a
traditional Thanksgiving meal
of roast turkey and pumpkin
pie, as they, too, told the story
of the Pilgrims and Indians on
that first Thanksgiving.
The father from one of the
families expressed his gratitude in the blessing he said before the meal, and the hosts
responded by being grateful
for "the unique, special experience that.it was," according to one of the volunteers;
Myrna Hess. "I'm here seven
nighls a week," said Hess. "I
would not do it, if I didn't feel
good about it."
"When you see the faces of
. the children light up, it helps
Gahanna resident Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld of Temple Israel
(second from left), Gahanna Mayor Jim McGregor (far left)
and Open Shelter Executive Director Kent Beittel (third from
left) and other prominent Gahanna residents were among those
who stood outside their city ball building from 5 pan-midnight,
Nov. 17, to show their support on behalf of the homeless hi central Ohio. The fire in the barrel not only provided warmth, but
helped simulate the way in which some homeless people might
redly live. Photo by Ina Horwitz.
to break down one of the stereotypes of homelessness,"
added Sullivan.
Temple Israel has already
hosted families and, according to Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld, "It was a very important
mitzvah for us to do — to open
our facilities to these homeless families, to feed; entertain, tutor the children and
just give our help in any way
we could. We had close to 100
congregants who volunteered." ...„;'.
Temple Beth Shalom begins
its "kick-off" during the week
of Dec. 16-22. At that time,
Bexley Methodist Church will
he hosting families at its facility, with the assistance of
Beth Shalom members
through its Social Concerns
Committee.
According to Beth Shalom's
Rabbi Howard L. Apothaker,
"We must uphold the linkage
between the Christian and
Jewish network. We're doing
something physical together
by providing an ongoing, cooperative, effort among all people in the community to help
homeless people."
Harriet Shea, a Beth Shalom congregant and director
of the Family Center of the
Faith Mission on East Long
Street, which houses the families during the day, said that
Beth Shalom is one of the most
logical congregations to participate in an interfaith project, since they use the same
building as a church.
"The strong focus on homelessness over the past few
years must continue," she
said, "as we need more af-
see HOMELESS pg. 3
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