A Time When Being Positive Can Be a Negative
Photos/Barbara Weinberg.
By Barbara Weinberg
Those who know me well, know that I am an eternal optimist. Regardless of the current situation I face life as a glass half full. I am unwilling to waste my energy dwelling on and distressing about things I have no control over.
Sheltering in place has given me a lot of time to remember, reflect, and rejoice in my family’s years of connection to the Temple Sinai community and its importance to our lives.
In 1975 when the Weinberg family joined Temple Sinai, Rabbinic students came twice a month to lead Shabbat services. For our younger daughter’s Bat Mitzvah in 1980, since there was no permanent Rabbi, our good friend and cantor from San Mateo, California, was welcomed to conduct the service at Temple Sinai and add the music and traditions that had been part of our daughter’s life as she grew up. In 1982, Temple Sinai hired its first full time Rabbi. Two years later Rabbi Emeritus Myra Soifer joined Temple Sinai and began her 25+ years as our Rabbi.
Those years are filled with Weinberg family participation with the Sinai community. My husband, Harry, was a founding member of the Wednesday noon Talmud Study, which continues to this day, and we were members of the Sinai Jewish Science Fiction Book Group.
After retiring, woodworking became Harry’s full time pleasure. The Synagogue had been built in the early 1970’s. By 1994, the sanctuary was due for remodel. Harry began what became a three year renovation project. Our son and our dog were his partners in the project. Harry designed and installed the Tree of Life, the Ark, lectern, candle stand and candle holder, and the Torah mantle holder. He made the Bima chairs, which I upholstered, and he designed and installed the Synagogue front doors that are now the inner doors to the lobby entrance.
Continuing the fond memories, Rabbi Soifer joined us for a Lake Tahoe sleigh ride to officiate at the wedding of my son and daughter-in-law. Minimal snow that year so the sleigh had wheels, not runners. Our older daughter was principal of the religious school. I served on the Sinai Board as Education Committee Chair and as President. I chaired the Caring Committee, made birthday and anniversary good wishes calls, and initiated the Chicken Soup for Healing Project. In preparation for conversion, a congregant decided to spend a year reading Torah from Genesis through Deuteronomy. She and I plus a congregant living in an assisted living facility met there weekly to read and discuss Torah. I even did a bit of hospital visiting when the Rabbi received a call that a Jewish out-of-towner was in the hospital in Reno and would appreciate a visit.
The Weinberg connection continues into the 21st century. Saturday morning Torah Study, Neighborhood Havurahs, and Beyond Words Book Group have been added to my Sinai activity list. I continue my participation on the Temple Sinai Social Action Committee and the Caring Committee. In solidarity with Israel’s Women of the Wall (WOW), other Sinai women and I were photographed wearing a tallit and holding a Torah. At a WOW Shabbat early last year the framed photos were hung on the wall in the small social hall.
In March 2020, I flew to Seaside, Oregon, to be with my older daughter for her birthday. As I write this in March 2021, I am still in Seaside with my daughter and her two Golden Retrievers. The months here include daily beach walks and weekly online Sinai Shabbat Services. Through FaceTime, Zoom, and other visual communication systems, I have maintained contact with my Reno friends and activities. As a peculiar and positive side effect of COVID-19, I have attended a wedding in Israel and other events to which I might not have traveled. Although COVID-19 has kept me here, it has been a wonderful year. Spending this time living with my adult daughter and being a help to her has been very special.
Temple Sinai is now blessed with the Rabbinic duo, the Zobers. They and the Board have made sure we are together virtually since we cannot safely be together physically.
All of this has kept my glass half full.
Epilogue
It is now June 2021. With very mixed feelings of desire to get back and regret to leave, I have returned to Reno. The pandemic continues although in much milder form thanks to the amazingly rapid development of effective vaccines. What will we have learned from this time of distance and isolation? For many of us it has been a time of introspection. What kind of a person am I? Hopefully, we have also recognized how important we are to each other; that we are a part of a community not just an “I” standing alone.
Barbara Weinberg was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has lived in Reno for 47 years. Barbara has been involved in her community by serving as the National Legislative Chair for the American Association of University Women, the Director of the State of Nevada Job Training Office, a member of the Reno Civil Service Commission, President of Temple Sinai Reno, and Docent at the Nevada Historical Society. She has traveled all seven continents.
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