By Bob Horwitz and Michael Bloom

There was a unique electricity in the air June 16-17. The Synagogue was decked out everywhere in its glory and splendor. It was the community celebration at which Congregation B’nai Shalom and Susan and Rabbi Gordon Freeman would bid “bon voyage” to each other after 38 years of service.

Although this was a festive and gala affair, the congregants who led the planning and execution were particularly careful to make sure that these events were in a style and manner that would honor Rabbi Freeman by continuing his legacy. So the idea of a “black tie dinner dance,” which is used by many congregations to honor their outgoing leaders, was dismissed as being too garish, too ostentatious, and too … well, unlike Rabbi Freeman.

So the committee (totaling more than 75 hard-working congregants) built everything around a Grand Shabbat – a Shabbaton – starting with a congregational dinner before Shabbat services Friday June 16, continuing with Shabbat services June 17, and ending with Havdalah, Ma’ariv, and a community dessert Saturday night. Associated with each of these was a series of presentations honoring Rabbi Freeman: Friday night’s theme was youth and education, Saturday morning’s theme was the community within B’nai Shalom, and Saturday night’s theme was Rabbi Freeman’s contributions and accomplishments outside B’nai Shalom, including family, childhood friends, and civic, political, and social affairs. One of the real treats of Saturday evening’s events was the Memory Room set up in classrooms 10-11; these rooms housed a chronology of Rabbi Freeman’s professional career as well as exhibits of his calligraphy and artwork, both from his own and from private collections.

Each one of the events and activities was nearly Standing Room Only – there were more than 300 people in attendance at each event (some over 400), and filling the seats with warm and gracious well-wishers was a wonderful way for us all to come together to say, “thank you.” Whether it was at the courtyard, the “memory room,” the sanctuary, the social hall, or just milling around, we saw familiar friends as well as people we hadn’t seen in years: friends of long-standing, former congregants, and members of the Rabbi’s family.

Friday evening began with a barbeque dinner sponsored by the Men’s Club, and graciously prepared by Lynn & Starr Levine. This was followed by Kabalat Shabbat services with our pre-school children singing songs led by Liz Kaufman, Director of Gan B’nai Shalom pre-school. The religious school students participated in leading parts of the service, and the Adult Choir under the direction of Hazzan Marc Dinkin brought lively Chassidic melodies to the service.

At the conclusion of the service, presentations to Rabbi Freeman came from the pre-school children; the religious school students; Stacy Judson on behalf of Kadima and USY; Jennifer Miller representing Contra Costa Midrasha; Andy Nosanchuk, who was a child when Rabbi Freeman began his tenure at B’nai Shalom; a current congregant, John Komisar, who presented an original graphic to the Rabbi; Caryn Quinn, who presented a custom-designed scrapbook recounting his activities at B’nai Shalom; and Rita Goldman, one of the founding members of CBS and a long-time worker in the CBS Religious School program. The evening concluded with a lovely Oneg sponsored by the CBS Sisterhood.

The scrapbook included personalized messages from congregants, friends, family, and community well wishers. Caryn commented, “The themed pages represented within this album barely begin to touch the surface of [Rabbi Freeman’s] diverse interests, interactions, leadership, and warmth.” The scrapbook complemented a professionally-produced commemorative book of greetings, the development and production of which was orchestrated by Eve Notas.

The next day’s events began with the Shabbat morning service. Sue Lefelstein, co-chair of the CBS Religious Committee, coordinated all of the religious services for the weekend. This included working with Rabbi Freeman and Hazzan Dinkin to involve congregants, including Bill Gourdin leading Preliminary Service and Danny Levin reading Torah. Rabbi Freeman, himself, delivered a moving drash to a sanctuary filled to capacity. Sue and Rabbi Freeman worked together to select persons whom the Rabbi wanted to honor with aliyot during the Torah Service. These included Neil Mitchell, Marty Fohrman, Gary Freeman, Susan Freeman, Bob Horwitz, Stu Klitsner, and Andy Strauss. Reva Rothenberg was the Maftir Aliyah and read the Haftarah.

After Musaf, instead of the presentations to a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, there were special presentations from within the congregation. Anne Nicolson, Immediate Past President of CBS Sisterhood, thanked the Rabbi for his vision of an egalitarian congregation. Mark Feldman, co-President of the Men’s Club, lauded the Rabbi’s support of the Men’s Club’s diverse interests, ranging from cooking for congregation barbeques and attending sports events to playing Texas Hold ‘em and having serious discussions of men’s health and infectious diseases. Mark then presented a 30” x 40” computer graphics portrait of Rabbi Freeman – which from a distance looks like a large portrait of the Rabbi’s face, but up-close contains hundreds of individual cells, each of which contains the full text of one of the 150 canonical Psalms (as a body of work, the Book of Psalms is one of Rabbi Freeman’s great passions, both for study of the text and for his calligraphic art).

Rayna Arnold, CBS President, in a moving statement presented Rabbi Freeman with a beautiful silver and bronze sculpture, commissioned by the Board of Directors and created by renowned artist Gad Almaliah. The main focus of the piece is the sacred words from Pirkei Avot, “One is not obligated to complete the work, but neither is one free to abandon it.”

Guests then enjoyed a wonderful Kiddush luncheon prepared by the Simcha & Shabbat Kiddush Committee and a team of congregant volunteers under the leadership of Elise Lustig and Gayl Belfor.

Saturday evening began with a wine and appetizer reception in the courtyards, and visits to an exhibit of photos and memorabilia marking Rabbi Freeman’s tenure, as well as some examples of his art and calligraphy. Then guests gathered in the sanctuary for Havdalah and Ma’ariv, with more presentations, honors and tributes.
Hazzan Marc Dinkin introduced the speakers, starting with Gwen Regalia, member of the Walnut Creek City Council (and four-term Mayor of the City). Ms. Regalia read and presented Gordon with a proclamation from the City, enumerating his many contributions over the years.

Rabbi Stuart Kelman, colleague from Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, and a close friend and mentor for many years, spoke of their many years of service as a group of Conservative Jewish Rabbis in creating policy and assisting in nearly 400 conversions, and his admiration for Gordon as a leader. They met weekly on Friday mornings, with the agreement never to mention “the C word” (“covenant”), because it would spur so much discussion all by itself!

Rabbi Freeman’s younger brother, Marc, gave a humorous presentation of life in the Freeman households, chiding his big brother: “You never call. You never write. Maybe now that you are retiring, you will have more time to keep in touch.”

Marty Fohrman, a past President of CBS, spoke about the early years of Rabbi Freeman’s service and the beginning of Shabbat morning services. Booker Holton, a congregant, spoke of the close relationship developed between the two men as Booker went through the process of conversion, committing to a traditional Jewish way of life.

Reva Rothenberg, a founding member of CBS, mimicked the story of Jonah, which she and her late husband, Judge Martin Rothenberg, had presented each Yom Kippur afternoon for decades. She also spoke of the Rabbi’s first connection with our Congregation (during his interview in her living room) and their work together teaching B’nai Mitzvah students their Torah and Haftarah portions. Bob Horwitz, also a past President, reminisced about their childhood years together, literally beginning with the Rabbi’s birth in San Francisco. Bob recalled the time he knocked-out some of the Rabbi’s teeth, their time as roommates at Cal, and when the Rabbi was an usher at Bob’s wedding. The boys’ parents began three generations of friendship.

Hazzan Marc Dinkin sang a hilarious parody of ‘If I were a Rich Man’ to his Bima partner. This was followed by a Freeman Family video presentation prepared by the Rabbi’s children and sons-in-law.

After the Havdallah service, the guests were led down the decorated pathway to the social hall by the Klezmer musicians where they enjoyed exquisite pastries, a four-foot high chocolate fountain and freshly made designer coffees. Jud Flato Music provided lively accompaniment for background and dancing.

The guests raised their champagne glasses as Craig Judson, immediate past President toasted the Rabbi, enumerating many of the Rabbi’s accomplishments while at Congregation B’nai Shalom. Rayna Arnold, current President, presented Susan Freeman with a bouquet of flowers and thanked her for sharing her husband with us for all these years. Bob Horwitz addressed all the wonderful work done by so many of our congregants to make the weekend happen, and presented Myrna Kimmelman with a bouquet of flowers as a special thank-you for the sensational job she did in organizing and coordinating all of the weekend’s activities.

Commemorative booklets from the weekend will be available through the end of July. Pick one up from the table in the main lobby or from the office. If you are unable to pick it up and would like one mailed, we will be happy to oblige. Just make the office aware of your request by contacting them at 925-934-9446 (phone), 925-934-9450 (fax), or office@bshalom.org (e-mail). There will be a nominal charge of $2 per copy to cover S&H.

See the July/August 2006 Hadashot for photos from this memorable weekend!

July/August 2006