Photoessay #1982 - Rockford glass

My parents belonged to a reform Jewish congregation in Rockford, IL. Sometimes on my trips there, I would take my mom to Temple on Friday night; once on Yom Kippur. But she really didn't feel like she could leave my dad.

After my father died, a couple about my age, Stern and Mary invited my mother to come with them to services every Friday night. They went regularly and they would come to pick her up. She loved it! It's so much nicer when you have someone to go with. She would take them out to dinner regularly. On my later trips to Rockford, I would tell them how much I appreciated them including her. And they would tell me how much they had gained by spending time with her. I still am grateful to them for doing that.

My sister wanted to have her own bat mitzvah, who knows what year it was. I could look it up. Not too long ago. Teresa, my niece was having hers as part of a big deal in Lafayette. I convinced Pam to separate hers out.

"I don't know if mom could make two trips to Lafayette!" fretted my sister. "And my friends won't be there."
"Who do you want me more?" I pressed her, I'm good at that. "Your friends or Mom?"
"Mom!" She was definite about that.
"Then have it in Rockford."
"You just can't have a bat mitzvah in some other temple, they would probably charge a fortune." Pam continued to fret.
"Hey, mom's a member", I pointed out. "You're allowed to have a bat mitzvah for your daughter in your own temple, doesn't matter how old she is. I'll come if you have it here," I added.

So it was set. It worked out very well. We had it on a Friday night with a slightly expanded oneg at the end. We had flowers and a cake. It was good for Teresa to participate in something honoring her mother.

"I really like this!" she commented. A modest but nice affair. My mother insisted on supervising the setup. We tried to get her to stay home. "This is my event so I want to be sure it's done right!" A few people came from the community. And her close friend, the Hebrew teacher Karen, came from Layayette (4 hours away) and surprised her. Some friends of my parents invited a group over for a nice dinner in their appartment before.

This stained glass is in the temple in Rockford, really very pretty. We had the event in April so it wasn't green outside yet. Rockford held a transitory place for me. In those last years, I went there a lot but I knew that, someday, I would never travel there any more.

Nothing's stopping me, I can go back to Rockford if I want.

That unseen hand drawing everybody to the Midwest, now Ilana.....

Charlie took this picture on the bat mitzvah weekend.