Image Up Advertising & Design

| OHCC LIVING | OCTOBER 2024 |25 Wow, where did summer go? It was only a few months ago that we were worried about the weather-delayed arrival of our precious Monarchs, and now, after a fantastic f lurry of butterf ly activity and habitat expansion throughout the village, we're counting the weeks until the end of the season. Again, depending on the weather, our Monarchs will spend their last days in our gardens in November before heading for their wintering sites in eucalyptus and pine groves along the coast. So, enjoy them in all their glory for a few weeks more, and look forward to even more in 2025 as we continue to make OHCC more and more welcoming for them. By now the Butterf ly Ball will be history as well, and the SMB Club will be in a position to start planning our fall and winter activities. The Master Board and the Landscape Committee have allocated several new areas for habitat expansion, some in the Butterf ly Park and others in grassy areas that need to be converted to native habitat. This expansion means that the Club will need more volunteers than ever to help plant and maintain both the existing and the new areas. If you're able to help – and gardening is the most rewarding kind of exercise! – contact Myra Esler or any SMB Club Board member. Our butterf ly season would not be complete without thanking all the club members and volunteers who have made our project such an unqualified success. Our annual Member Appreciation event will be held on Oct. 15, from 3 to 5 pm in the Lanai. Make sure to plan to come for a celebration of what has been, in our third year of operation, a tremendous success as we advance our mission of growing the Western Monarch butterf ly population in California. If you can come, please RSVP to Marsha Locke at wmlocke53@gmail. com. Written by Myra Esler Save the monarch butterfly Yiddish Club Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: Beginning of the year) is the Jewish New Year and falls on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishrei (September/October). Rosh Hasanah starts at sundown on Oct. 2, 2024. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, it's a common occurrence to see members of various congregations gathered around bodies of open water such as rivers, lakes or the ocean. The religious ritual of "Tashlikh" is performed in which sins are "cast" into the f lowing water, to be swept away. This is the beginning of the "Ten Days of Repentance" which include Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between, during which pious Jews should meditate on the subject of the holidays and ask forgiveness from anyone they have offended or wronged. Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) begins around sunset of Oct. 11 and continues into the next day until nightfall. High Holy Days bring back many memories of prayer and atonement, but I'm almost embarrassed to say that the most outstanding remembrance of Yom Kippur is about my Aunt Chanah (Anna). I attended High Holy Day services in a small Brooklyn synagogue (actually a converted house) only three homes, or about 80 feet from my Aunt Chanah's home and kitchen. As an observant Jew, I was expected to fast for 24 hours, from sunset of the commencement of Yom Kippur until sunset of the next day. By 3 pm in the afternoon of this Holy Day I had fasted for about 20 hours and my sense of hunger was overwhelming. This was just when Aunt Chanah, only three doors way, was beginning to prepare food for the family for the traditional "Break the Fast" celebrations. The aroma from her cooking from only yards away began to sweep through the entire congregation. Aunt Chanah was preparing customary Holy Day food. The scent of "Kreplach" (Jewish wontons) frying in oil, the whiff of toasted bagels and round Challah being baked, saturated the synagogue. The imagery and fragrance produced a salivating smile on me and all the fasting congregants. Someone said to me, "It's your Aunt Chanah" again." We all laughed. Dozens of Yom Kippur Holy Days had past, when during a trip to New York, I was drawn to New Jersey Avenue in Brooklyn; the street on which my grandfather's shul had existed. The shul had been converted back to a private home and my Aunt Chanah's house was occupied by strangers. I parked in front of the home in which many members of my family had celebrated the "Break the Fast" of Yom Kippur some 70 years earlier. Was it my imagination or did I really catch a scent of kreplach frying in oil, and challah, baking in an oven, as I sat in front of 804 New Jersey Avenue? Be sure to join us on Mon., Oct. 21 at 7 pm, for our next Yiddish Club meeting with Vincent Young entertaining & deli luncheon from Dec. 15h. Our delicious and entertaining deli luncheon will be held on Sun., Dec. 15! ~ Written by Don Kent, Past Vice President

• Cover