Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

welcome

Welcome New Member Hannah Davis!

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Hannah writes:

I’ve lived in Ann Arbor since 2014, and before that was in Kalamazoo, where I was raised. I grew up going to Temple B’nai Israel, wandered away from religion for over a decade, and recently rediscovered joy in Judaism after a tour of Ann Arbor congregations led me to AARC!

My day job (pandemic notwithstanding) is as a barista at Sweetwaters, and I’m training to become a copyeditor as well. I’m an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction, I love learning languages (including Spanish, Hebrew, and Tamil), I play the flute, keep house plants, and clearly have too many hobbies. 

AARC has been so welcoming and safe to me from the first service I came to. I leave every event having made a new acquaintance and having had engaging conversations, and I’m so happy to be a member now!

AARC welcomes you, Hannah!

Welcome New Members Andrew and Susan Flint!

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Andrew writes:

Susan and I moved to Ann Arbor many years ago when I became affiliated with the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Susan is a retired reference librarian and a graduate of U-M.

We have two daughters, a granddaughter, and a son-in-law,
all of whom live on the East Coast. I continue to teach at the University and have become the director of the Center for Automotive Gerontology.

Teaching, books, Airedales, cooking and baking, and film photography are among our passions.

We find AARC to be a warm, welcoming, and unpretentious community. And Rabbi Ora rocks!

As a special treat, Rabbi Ora requested that we share this lovely poem written by my daughter, Sarah Flint Erdreich:

Inheritance

dark eyes contemplative
behind gold rimmed glasses
corners of mouth hidden
by graying beard

my father
Army brat in Germany after the war
bad place to be a Jew
I used to picture him,
dark haired and slender,
never saying what he was
watching the flame of Sabbath candles
in Army-issue house

my mother stayed home
packed school lunches, ironed clothes
lively and laughing
in her Southern family
the skeletons left the closet
to have dinner with the living

my father left before I rose
worked late in the hospital
where he touched Death
at breakfast I ate the same meal
he, an hour earlier, consumed
wanting to be just like him

a photo taken in Switzerland
father bundled in a snowsuit
only solemn face visible
we could have been twins
at 7 years old

“enjoy life” he tells me
doing his best to ensure that I
who have inherited so much from him
will leave the sadness and silence
to the past that created it

– Sarah Flint Erdreich