1
12
363
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-Temple_Drawing
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Unknown
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel drawing
Description
An account of the resource
Sketch of the Temple B'nai Israel by an unknown artist.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Synagogues
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/244598469b12bd7029e12d1b2c7e0463.Pdf
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PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-Minutes_1958
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1957
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Minutes, 1958
Description
An account of the resource
Board minutes of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1958.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Charities
Minutes (Records)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fcc867dca444028c77948bc130cb1c88.Pdf
72e09ae29d7154f1e58d40430b57287a
PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-Minutes_1957
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1957
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Minutes, 1957
Description
An account of the resource
Board minutes of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1957.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Charities
Minutes (Records)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d6ad0146c158f30d9addeff323745e3.Pdf
03010e90e07da9b3f4c875739d5faa21
PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-Minutes_1956
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1956
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Minutes, 1956
Description
An account of the resource
Board minutes of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1956.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Charities
Minutes (Records)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
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PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-Minutes_1955
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1955
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Minutes, 1955
Description
An account of the resource
Board minutes of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1955.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Charities
Minutes (Records)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6ecb448fe6cd5b43ddb9d2bb3e81f9ab.Pdf
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PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-AR_1956-1957
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1957
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Annual Report, 1956-1957
Description
An account of the resource
Annual Report of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1956-1957.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Annual reports
Charities
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/908c302230475ddffc70e86a66d1150a.Pdf
760efa52b7aa8970fc9b2abf42b4a294
PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-AR_1955-1956
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1956
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Annual Report, 1955-1956
Description
An account of the resource
Annual Report of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1955-1956.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Annual reports
Charities
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/399864d1bff3f1190ef99825d7a1b859.Pdf
42372b48fd792add88ca0029a055958a
PDF Text
Text
�����������
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-UJCGM-AF_1954-1955
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1955
Title
A name given to the resource
UJCGM Annual Report, 1954-1955
Description
An account of the resource
Annual Report of the United Jewish Charities of Greater Muskegon, 1954-1955.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Annual reports
Charities
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/021a4cc25d50f3ef11a8d589ae6f9fc0.Pdf
ccc4d3218a78ac711db59bc32bb75e1a
PDF Text
Text
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-SonsofIsrael-Minutes_1943
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sons of Israel
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943/1945
Title
A name given to the resource
Sons of Israel 1943-1945 Minutes
Description
An account of the resource
Board meeting minutes of the Congregational Sons of Israel, Temple B'nai Israel from July 1943 to January 1945.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Men--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/944dd7bdccef328c25a538468812ce56.pdf
ea2c611c2f3d3b020b42e2475c5308e0
PDF Text
Text
CHARTS AND RECORDS FOR
PLUMBING, WIRING, KEYS,
ETC.
CONGREGATION B'NAI
�JEWISH CElll'ER & IDUSE OF \.~RSHIP
LIGHrDlG CABINET #1
Boller Room IJall~
1. Recreation Room
7.
Cir. Pump & Plug Boiler Roon
Boiler Room Lights
2.
Plug Recreation Room R Foyer
s.
3.
Recreation Room
9.
4. TCtilat Ws.rdrooo and Fan.
10.
;.
n.
Kitchen Light
6. Foyer
Kitchen Plugs
12.
LIC-HTING CABINET #2
?-bin Entrance
1.
I-bin Cbapal- West
10.
Corridol'-Toilet 2nd 1'1oor
2.
1-nin Chapel-Center
11.
Balooiv Lights
3. Lobby
12.
Plugs-2nd Floor
4. Vestibule-Entrance
13. l-hin Chapel-East
5. Sr.nil Chapel
14. l-bin Clnpal-Ccnter Lto.
6. Lights Under Bal.co~
15.
Kindergarten Class Room
Pl:ugs Main Cmpel
7.
Lounge
16.
s.
Class Room-East
17. Projection Booth
9. Projection l-hcld.ne
�41tJ V FOWER
No-C-440 V
Boller Room
1. si:nre
8. Ix.. Fan
2. Spare
9. Cir. Pump
~
10.
Cir Pump
4. Intake Fan
u.
Air Co:mpreaaor
5. Intake Fan
12. Spare
6.
13. sinre
3. OU Burner
SUmp fump
14.
7. Ex. Fan
SJ:ere
KrtCUEtr IOWER
Boiler Room Hallt,ey
·
l.
Ice Crea:n
4.
2.
nm
5. Spare
3.
Ice Box
6.
Dismasher
Spll"e
LIGHl'ING CADillE'l' #3
Basement North Sta1nlell
.
1. Raoreation,.North End
8. Secretar.r•s Office
2. Platform
9. Cow Lights
3. Clocks & Plugs Recreation lbcm
10. Organ
~
n.
Stage Foot Lights
5. Stainny o.nd P.l.nttorm Plugs
12.
Stage .Foot Lights
6. Ante Room am Ark Plugs
lJ • Stage Foot Lights
Ante Room and Fassage
7. Iabbi'e Study and Urxler
Lights
sio.r
14. Bulletin Board
�OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
HEATING AND VENTILATING SYSTEM
HOUSE OF JE\ ISH iORSHIP
MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN
The o~!"'burner is fully automat1o 1n operation and will
operate as often and as long as necea ary to deliver water
at the temper ture called tor by the aquastat.
In starting up the heating system, therefore, 1t is necessary
only to close all electric aw1tchea that supply energy to the
oil burner, light th gas pilot an~ let the oil bnrner controls
govern the operation. Close the switch starting the hot water
o1rculat1ng pump and let the pump run as long aa there 1a demand tor heating.
The direct radiation and conTectors are connected to a piping
system having a circulating pump and thermostatically controlled
mixing valve. The mixing valve 1a arramged to vary the temperature of the water supplied to the oonveotore and radiators inversely with outdoor temperatures. The aquastat in the boil r
water should be set tor about 200 Fin mild weather and 240 F
in extremely cold weather.
The heating ot the b sement recreation room and the heating of
the Main Ohapel is accomplished with the respective air supply
and exhaust systems. Each room has finned convectors below the
windows , which can furnish part of the heating, but operation ot
the fan systems ia essential tor full heating and tor ventilating of the rooms.
'l'he blast conveotors of the air suppl y systems are supplied with
water at boiler temperature, through a separate piping system
having its own circulating pump. This pump likewise must be
turned on whenever it is necessary to supply heating or ventilating to these rooms.
Prior to occupancy or use of either room, start the re peot1ve
supply and exhaust tan and set the pneumatic positioning dial
tor 100 per cent recirculation. This will close the outside e.ir
intake damper and set the dampers in the exhaust fan discharge
duct to re_turn al.l the -ih
t :r-.1:r _,. t t11
u ly y tem.
The roo • quiokly may be warmed when all the air thus is recircul ated.
When the room is ready tor occupancy, s t the pneumatic positioning dial tor about 50 per cent outside air 1n m1ld weather,
or for not more than 2S per cent in extremely cold weather.
-1-
�!l'he ventilating systems may be used w1th 100 per cent outside
air during weather requiring no heating or very little heating,
as during spring and tall.
After comuleting use ot the room, shut off the supply and exhaust tans serving the room. De-energizing the tan...motors automatically causes the pneumatic damper 1n the air intake to close
end to set the reciroulating damper 1n 100 per oent recirculating
position, regardless ot the setting on the pneumatic pos1t1on1ng
dial.
Whenever outdoor temperatures are below freezing, the circulating
pump tor the ventilating systems should be run, whether or not the
fans shall be used, as cold air leakage at the outside air intake
drunpers may be euttic1ent to endsnger the conveotors.
Replace the air tilter cells at periodic intervals, depending on
frequency ot use and accumulation ot duet. Never replace all the
cells at one time, as the reduced resistance or all clean cells
will cause greatly increased a1r tlow. By staggering replacement
of the tilter cells, the air quantity may be maintained fairly
uniform. Keeping record of dates ot replacing filter cells, therefore, 1a essential to proper care of the ventilating system.
011 all motors, bearings and moving part at onthly 1nterVale, or
as much oftener as required to~ proper lubrication. Use proper
grade of oil tor each service.
Blow out condensation trom bottom of air compressor receiver periodice:lly.
'l'he expansion tank of the heating system must never be permitted to
become waterlogged. The water line must be visible in the gauge
glass at all times. In ata'rting up from a cold system, the water
should be Just visible in the bottom of the gauge glass. As the
water expa.nda under heating, it will rise in the tank, compressing
the air.
The oil burner should be serviced once a year by the manufacturers
representative. This should be a periodio check up prior to start
or the heating aeason. Adjustment of valves, dampers, etc. of the
oil burner must not be changed from the settings made by the oil
burner ae.rv1.o.e r~preaentative.
The pneumatic control system sh u.ld be checked once a year by aerv1oe representative of the manufacturer, to insure its efficient
operation.
Samuel R. Lewie and Associates
August 14, 1948
�HardYrare Schedule
Jewish Center & Hous
of Worship
Strom & Strom Builde
/
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l a mixed air ec n mizer cor.tr 1 to mod 1 ~e the outxlaust a~r dampers to maintain
t O mixed air tem1 r 1re.
th this typo of control ,
the amount of o td or air admitted decreases as the oitdoor air temperature decreases;at -100 outdoor air temer ture, you are introducing approximately 2o,t outdoor
r.
�e
JOHNSON SERVICE COMPANY
b
r
w
ir
ne
t.
✓
j
In
al
pum whene erar 1r cor inu~u ly.
a
r
ever the
t
ures be
our
rice~ r t is
. . . . . . . . . . . ..
s. . . . . . ., ,695.00)
r
NE
a ria reo ired
pressure switc~es
or painting which
This price incl
for a coM l te
and fre .. stats
rna.y be necessit
We w sh to thank you
and tf we can e off
us.
1,
to ouote on hese changes
do l"'O resit re to crmtact
Very truly yours,
JOHNSON SERV1CE COMPANY
1tt~.:!:n~
Service Sales~an
WRH
s
�..
8PSCIALIZ1Ntl
NKCMIAIU~ llOUIPMIINT l"Olt
•un..o,....
"HONE G L - 4898 1
MAX A. LETT. ME C HANICAL ENGINEER
801 MICHIGAN TRU8T
BUIL OINO
GRAND RAPIDS 2, MICHIGAN
October 2, 1957
egat1on B 1 nat _..;-Eavl
'D:)<..• _.h & W$bst r
t•••
kegon:, 1'.J.ch1gan
1ttent1ons-
• Sts.?uey
s~ongregation B~na1 Israel
:ait.1d1ng
C-Plan. Rabbi
-1/7
-?W,/
I'
Iv -:r
/
Dear Rabb!. IQiplans
--;,~¥)~~
field check was made on__the heat.1 s-- s1s"tem
oft.he su )ect ~•-~-·..~
iber 30, 1957 and
t.t a ver noted
f ~ / ._,,
the~?~~/28 .,_
1. Oh1et a-ompla1lnt, vaa that office seotiore at nort end :!:,
ot o°llm'oh did not heat properly.
2~ Wall convector radiators under basement assembly windows
not heating properly
3~ Ind1cat1ons of overheating in south second story portion
~ building~
4~ Otttdoor-'1.nd.oor reset not t't.llrot1oning properly'~
The heating plans for the building were
as install
was xamined. The
ayst
appeared to b a well installed vystem w1t'h all required
ace asorie to tac111:t balancing & adj\lsting. By balancing
is meant the prooeee of regulating the system 1:n a mamer to
put the heat where requ1rec!.
g;
examined and then tbs e7at
•
The tollow1ng corrective measures w re t k ent
lA. Thee~ ion tank was emptied of water and was l e ft w1th
about 3" or water on the gaga.
21.. The system was tilled to 25
- --uhat.. t
""t..•
~
.t
,.
:runt.ion to in 1c t
hen the wat81!
•
vents ehould be r plac , otherwise, frequent band ven ing
r quired. The anunl vent cooks at the auto vent looat1on indicated the water pr seur ample to fill tho eyat •
:;&.. The hea tin
t d
el ents ent1oned 1n I:t
l. a ov
checked tor heating and found to be he t1n pro
r
r
�2 o't 2
5&. With regard to Item~
l! will oontaot the J'obnson
ce Company to recheck th ou:tdoor-indoor reset the next
they have a man 1n t
v1c1n1ty~ I beltsve I can got th•
chec
th
item without cost to the OWner.
6A.. As noted 1n I-t 5A the system pi, ssure wa lett at
25 lbs. gage(boiler). Would like to have the Oustod1an drop
the pr asur to 20 lbs. gage(bo1ler) by opening the valve slightly-
at top ot compreee1on tank until system pressure has dropped to
the desired figur.
rn the event the above l av a any quent1o
or prob
a unanswered th n drop ea line giving telephon number of Custodian
so the next time I
in Muskegon I will atop by and see him.
It is believed that the above will solve the problem of
heating of the office section. It it does not then there are
tJro
t.e!"?lat1v. ... cpor. _.on --ao1ut11n ""OUld----be to .1 a-tall a rre1)81:' t
pump forte off1oe eeot1on with supply & r turn runout from t
boiler room to the section concerned. The other solution would
be to in tall electric baseboard heating units 1n the rooms
concerned. The alternatives should not be used if they can b
avoided •
•
,
�(\.~ • .J
S~IICIALIZINO
M f r N I C A ... 11:QUIPMENT l'"OR BUILDINGS
PHONE
C
MAX A. LETT, MEC
601 M I CHIGAN '
GRAND RAPID.
Congregation B 1 nai Israel
Fourth & Webster Ste.~
Muskegon, Michigan
REs-Congr~gation B'nai Israel
Building
-.
-,
.lttention:- Mr. Stanley Kaplan, Rabbi
./-
:~
~ '.,,,,-2_
Dear Rabbi Kaplan:
'
~
z:~~~
A fi eld c heck was made on the
of the subject building on September 30, 1957 and the~owing
i tams were noted a
~,(_', $
~-------~-
~=
.
l. Chief complaint was that office section at nort end ,
of church did not heat properly~
2. Wall convector radiators under basement Jnsembly windows 7
not heating properly~
3-.· Indications of overheating in · sou" second story port1~
of building.
I
4. Outdoor-indoor reset not f'unctic
r
properly-~
:
•
The heating ·r
· 'll~ "11nc; wero
I
examined and t hen the system as
syst em a ppeared to be a well in
acce s sories to facili t e balanci
is meant the proces s of regulat
put the heat where r e1uired.
I'
'trn follow1r
u-.
., ... a.1.res we.
The expansion tank was empw.Led of water and was left with
about 3" of water on the gage-.
a. The s ys t e • was f i l led to 25 ~•t ga~(boiler)-. It was noted
t h.at the auto vents a t top of heating risers in roof ape.ca did not
funtion to i ndica te ,:hen the wat~ had reached the vents-. The
vents should be replaced, otherwise, fre quent band ventillg may be
re~uired-. The manual vent cocks at the auto vent locations indicated t he wa ter pressure ample to fill the system.
:;A. The heat ine elements mentioned 1n Item l above were then
vented & checked tor heating and found to be heating properlyt.
4.l. The hand valves serv:1.ng the wall convector heating elements
below the main assembly windows were turned off and then the similar
heating ele~ents under ba sement assembly windows were examined and
found to be receivin5 hea t. This indicated that by !'?'oper adjustment
of' the balancing valves in the heatin g el ements the ~1eat could be
distributed between the heating elements concerned. The Custodian wae.
instructed concernine adjustment of the balancing valves~
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BI-1950-BuildingEngineeringFacilities
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Congregation B'nai Israel
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1950-04
Title
A name given to the resource
Building Engineering Facilities
Description
An account of the resource
Binder of charts and records for plumbing, wiring, keys, heating and ventilation system, hardware schedule for the Muskegon Jewish Center and House of Worship.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Synagogues
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2a377d3eae1fbe7799c43cc82ab830c3.pdf
179ffdf03b8ad6e4765cf37a84fe6190
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L'dor V'dor Project Interviews
Interview: Beatrice Koolovitz
Interviewer: Chavala Ymker
Date: November 17, 2018
Interviewer:
Today is November, 17 and I am here with.
Beatrice:
Beatrice Koolovitz.
Interviewer:
Conducting an oral history for the L’dor v’dor Project. Do you consent to
participate and have your history recorded for this project?
Beatrice:
I do.
Interviewer:
Alright, so we're going to start off by just asking you to tell me a little bit about
yourself and your life. What were you like as a child? As a young adult?
Beatrice:
I am the oldest of five children in a Catholic family. I was born in Detroit, but at
age six, my father and mom moved us to Phoenix, Arizona. So I actually grew up,
and my two youngest brothers were born-I’m the oldest of five. My two
youngest brothers were born in Phoenix, and that's where we grew up. Went to
Catholic grade school, and public high school. And then by around age 19, I
started questioning my religion, the Catholic religion. There were things about it
I didn't agree with. I already was, I guess thinking about the birth control issue.
My first husband and I went to talk to the priest about getting married, and his
first question to me was, "Had I ever been or was I planning to join the
communist party?" I felt extremely insulted about why he would ask me such a
thing, and said, “never mind, I don't want to be married in this church.”
So after Phoenix, we moved to Muskegon, in '86. And this is the town where my
husband was born and raised. And his mother was getting older, she was a
widow, so that's why we moved here. And I took a job at Hackley Hospital, in
the operating room. I found out the hospital had tuition reimbursement and
would pay for my Bachelor's degree, if I continued to work in the hospital for
two years after obtaining such degree. And I thought, I better take advantage of
this benefit. That's pretty awesome.
Beatrice:
So I got an undergrad, a Bachelor of Science from Western Michigan, and one of
the I forget what you call optional classes, an elective? I took an elective called
"The Christian Tradition" in which I was exposed to other parts of Christianity.
As a Catholic, we really didn't call ourselves Christians. We thought Christians
were like Baptists. And I didn't know what a Baptist was. I didn't know what a
Methodist was, a Presbyterian, I knew nothing about what people's actual
beliefs were.
Beatrice:
So this class was an eye opener to me. One of the segments of Christianity that I
was introduced to was Orthodox Christianity, such as the Greek Orthodox
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�Church, the Russian Orthodox, it's just called Orthodox Christianity. So I thought
I would go check that out. I'd already been to a Lutheran Service, I'd been to a
Presbyterian, I'd been to a Wesleyan, and nothing seemed significantly
persuading me to jump on board. When I got to the Orthodox Church, I began
to feel the ancient tradition of that part of Christianity, because they are like
one step from Judaism. I wasn't even thinking clearly. Jesus was a Jew, and he
practiced Judaism. So the new religion took many segments from Judaism and
brought it into Christianity, and I could see that at the Orthodox. I just felt the
ancient tradition. Their service uses a lot of the Greek language. They'll repeat
everything in Greek three times and then everything in English three times. And
I really was feeling, starting to feel comfortable, until I read in the prayer book
that you can only be saved, or achieve salvation, through that church. And I
thought red flag, not for me.
Beatrice:
Same thing happened when I read all the Jehovah Witness. They finally gave me
their book, and I was reading their book and came across something similar, and
said, no this can't be right. What about the people in China? What about the
people in the jungle? What about people who can't read? They are good people,
but you're telling me they're not saved because they don't believe in Jesus
Christ? So I thought there's got to be something else. So I thought what about
Judaism? So I started exploring. I started reading, and every book I read I would
look at the references, and the bibliography in the book and I would circle titles
that looked interesting to me, or write them down, and then start ordering
them up at my local library. And I just got deep and deep, and finally I talked to
a Jewish gal at Nestle, a former colleague, and said do you know anybody in
Muskegon? And she gave me the Rabbi's email address.
Beatrice:
So I wrote to the Rabbi, and he called me. And he said anyone can have the
intellectual capability of becoming a Jew, but it may not be a good fit for you.
You need to come to service and see what it's like, if you like it. And I did, from
the very first. People were friendly, they were welcoming, they were interested.
And I became interested in everything Jewish, to the point where for the last
two and a half years, I've read basically nothing but books about Judaism.
Philosophy, rituals, conversion books, it just goes on and on, novels so that I've
read books by Jewish authors, like oh, I can't remember his first name, but Asch,
A-S-C-H is the last name, and then a book of Hebrew poetry I found at some
yard sale. I mean if you just keep your eyes open, like I found my menorah at
Goodwill. I just had a feeling if I went into the Goodwill, I'd find something
Judaic, and there was my menorah.
Beatrice:
So, this has become my new life, to the point where my Christian brother-in-law
says, "Do you mind if I ask you, I mean don't take this the wrong way, but you
seem like really obsessed and bring Judaism into every conversation." And he
goes, "I used to have a Orthodox Jewish neighbor, and she did the same thing."
And I just told him, it's just because it is my life, in a way that being a Christian
was not my life.
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�Beatrice:
I mean the first thing I say, the first prayer in the morning, is called the Modeh
Ani, and it's where you think God for restoring your soul, which is an analogy for
making you survive the night. Thank you for thinking of me. Then we thank God
for sanctifying us with his commandments, cause the first thing we do then is
wash our hands, do a ritual hand washing in the morning. And then the last
thing is, every day we promise to love each other as we love ourselves. And I'm
finding that is the hardest commandment, called a mitzvot, of all. Because I
continually break that, and I get so upset with myself. So every day for me is
trying to treat other people like I would like to be treated, with kindness, with
sensitivity.
Beatrice:
So, and then at night, and during the day, just I'll be looking out at something
beautiful and say the Shema, which is kind of our motto. Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai
Eloheinu Adonai Ecḥad. God is one, God is almighty. So I'll say that as I'm
drifting off to sleep. And then on Shabbat which is Friday Sundown to Saturday
Sundown, my husband's at work every Friday, but I light the candles, I have the
wine, I have cubes of challah bread in my freezer so I can start Shabbat properly.
And I try to adhere to it. I don't work on the weekends, on Saturday. And then
Sunday I go back to my regular weekly life and-
Interviewer:
Could you tell me a little more about your childhood and youth outside of
religion?
Beatrice:
Oh, yeah. I was a tom-girl, and because I'm the oldest of five, I was also a pretty
authoritarian. When I grew up we played a game called ‘War.’ And because it
was Phoenix, Arizona, and we had these date palms, the dates fall on the
ground, and they get hard as rocks because of the sun. And so that was our
ammo. And if we ran out of dates we'd use dried up dog turds, because they're
just dry as a bone. You know? It’s already- I was bad. I'd cut tails off lizards, we'd
put a black widow spider, and a scorpion, and a red ant in a jar and shake it up
and watch them stab each other. I was bad.
Beatrice:
And then we'd play cowboys and Indians 'cause we're out west. And oh, my
favorite game was, we would play Nuns. We would put our cardigan sweater
around our head and button it there, you know, just the arms were hanging
back, and I would hear the neighborhood boys' confessions in the shed.
[Laughter] And they were only too eager to get their confessions heard. I don't
know what they thought we were going to do in the shed. They were probably
disappointed. Tell me your sins.
Beatrice:
So it was a western kind of life. We didn't wear shoes all summer. We went
barefoot. It was 110 degrees, we'd just hop across the desert there in our bare
feet. Me and my siblings would walk to the airport during the day while the
parents were at work, and I finally Googled it to see how far, it was like three
and a half miles one way. We would walk there, through that heat, buy a coke,
watch people on the planes coming and going, and then walk back home. We
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�played softball, tetherball, we were just brown, out-doorsy you know, wild kids.
But I was also very studious and got straight A's, and blue first place ribbons
from the Catholic Grade School, my whole life. And that intimidated my siblings,
'cause they didn't get any blue ribbons.
Beatrice:
So that was me, I was pretty goody goody, but I think I was real repressed, I
don't know. I didn't know what I wanted to be. My parents didn't give us any
guidance as to career. They just said, "You're not better than anybody, you're
not worse than anybody. You can be anything you want to be." But in like 1962
in Phoenix, all you could be was a nun, a teacher, a nurse, or a mom, or a
secretary. That was about it. I didn't know women could become engineers, or I
probably would have gone down that path. I didn't know women could become
scientists. I only knew like those five things, which is unfortunate.
Beatrice:
So, my mother got me interested in nursing school. I was working for Prudential
Financial Security Program Office, which is in Mutual Funds. I was a senior
underwriter. So I was sitting at a desk and here I was like 22 years old doing this
financial work. And I liked it because it was very precise and organized, it's like
science. I mean you can't argue with numbers. So I liked that. But, then I
realized I got tired of sitting. I wanted to work with people. My mom said, "Why
don't you become a nurse?" So I thought okay, I'll apply for nursing school and I
got in. And that was the biggest development of me maturing as a person, was
becoming a nurse because it was terrifying. I mean, just pretend like what if you
had to walk into a room, right now, and change a dressing on someone who just
had half of their pelvis removed, their whole leg and half of their pelvis because
of cancer.
Beatrice:
It's sobering. And then over time I developed a way of dealing with some
situations that were very difficult. Like sometimes even the surgeon could not
clean the wound. He would say, "I'm going to pass out, I can't put my hand in
there." I said "I'll do it." So, I found that was my way of serving people. I was a
operating room nurse, and so my goal was every person that was under
anesthetic, I was there to protect their modesty, their safety, their legal rights.
And I took it very seriously. And I only had like a couple minutes with the patient
before they went under anesthetic. But I wanted them to know that I would be
there doing that for them. I never used to tell them what I was going to do, and I
thought if I don't tell them, they don't know. And they're scared, they've never
met me. So that worked out really good for both of us.
Beatrice:
And then that-I just loved that. Giving to people that way, or being with people
as they were dying, 'cause later I worked in nursing homes and dialysis. I've had
to resuscitate people and prepare bodies. People would get hit by cars, they'd
come into the ER and I was the night supervisor, so I had to get their body ready
for the family and be there with the outpouring of grief. So nursing, that was the
biggest event of my whole life. My own personal things that happened, like
getting breast cancer when I was 37 years old, that was no big deal, to me.
Really, I didn't cry like maybe five minutes. I just said, "Cut it off, and let me go."
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�Well don't you want chemo or radiation? No. I refused. And 25 years later, I was
still alive so it turned out good.
Interviewer:
Tell me a little bit about your process of conversion and a little more of what
first inspired you.
Beatrice:
Well, like I said I was inspired by reading that Christianity, the religion I was
brought up in, and somehow I missed, after Catholic School and some Catholic
High School, somehow I missed the fact that I was supposed to be believing that
Jesus was the only way. Somehow I missed that. That went over my head until
many years later, until I got retired and had time to cogitate about these
important things.
Beatrice:
So then, when I realized that wasn't my path, and explored Judaism, I felt very
encouraged, comfortable. And the Rabbi has informed me that I am going about
the conversion process different from anyone else that he's worked with,
because I am self-directed. When you convert to Judaism, there's a list of like 10
questions they ask you. Or statements you make, such as I will create a Jewish
home. So I've already done that, and what that means is, for me personally, I
loved sculpture, I still do. But I got rid of any sculpture in my home. Jews are,
since the old testament, they dictate against having an idol, or idolatry. You'll
notice our synagogue. You don't see crucifixes. You don't see religious pictures.
You don't see all the trappings of Christianity. And that's why, because God said
you'll have no other God before me.
Beatrice:
And I asked to learn Hebrew, and he wanted to teach me. So I had I think nine
lessons with him. And then when he was out of town, I had one lesson with
Fran, and that was awesome. Fran is such a good teacher. So she got me up to
lesson 10 out of 13. So there's three letters of the alphabet that I haven't yet
learned. And I've just been too busy right now to focus on learning my Hebrew.
You don't have to learn Hebrew when you convert, but I can see that unless I
can read the Hebrew from the prayer book, I can't participate fully. And the
songs, the music, everything it's all based on Hebrew. That is our language, and
it's the language of Israel. So I really am enjoying that part of it. Now I can pick
out the letters, and some of the words I can sound out. I'm very clunky and
slow, but I really love to be able, I'm almost 70 years old now.
Beatrice:
Like I said a late bloomer, okay geez, now at 70 she's going to learn Hebrew?
Well hey, as long as life, who knows what I'll take up next, you know? So, I read
the books, I attended services here. So, like I said I try to observe the ritual, the
Sabbath Ritual, the Havdalah Ceremony that happens tonight at sundown, is the
saying of good bye to the Sabbath, and then starting your week I say the daily
prayers. That just helps keep me focused and hemmed in, and I feel so much
more productive.
Interviewer:
So can you describe what it means for you, to be a Jew?
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�Beatrice:
It means joy. It means gratitude. I've always been, I think pretty positive. So I
feel like it fits my personality, 'cause it's a religion of gratitude. We're always
thanking God for our breath, the Torah, our lives, I mean my life isn't perfect.
You know, there's people in my family that are troubled. I think I trouble them. I
mean, we all have health issues, but there isn't anything that's obviously
entrapping me. I'm not disabled, I'm perfectly vigorous and busy person, and
productive. And I just feel like wow, I feel it's like a perfect fit for me, this
religion. I told my husband, this is the happiest I've been in my whole life, really.
Interviewer:
That's cool.
Beatrice:
Yeah.
Interviewer:
So you've talked quite a bit about your practice of Judaism, is there anything
else you'd like to share about how you practice?
Beatrice:
I try to, in my diet, I was a vegetarian for a long time, in my previous life, and
then over time, now that I've read about kashrut, K-A-S-H-R-U-T, looks like
kashr-
Interviewer:
Okay yeah.
Beatrice:
It's pronounced kashrut, that is the basis for a kosher diet. And kosher just
means ‘fitting.’ And you go back to the old testament, and it tells you there,
what foods Jews can eat. They can have all the plants and fruits, all the fruits
and vegetables you want, and nuts, all those fruiting, flowering plants God gave
to us. And then he said you can eat certain fish and certain animals. But here's
the group of things you cannot eat. Like insects creeping crawling things, and
you can't eat any shellfish, so I started.
Beatrice:
I gave up pork, even before I started coming to synagogue. I think 2012 was the
last time I had pork. And then, I started eliminating more and more meat. And
then it got down to where the only meat I would eat would be the game that
my husband killed, because he does a clean kill that the animal does not suffer. I
mean if we had to track that deer for two days or a day, I wouldn't eat it,
because it suffered. But he knows how to do a clean kill, so it takes two steps,
just out of adrenaline and boom, it's down. I ate that last year. But now that
that deer is all gone, I told him he does not need to get a deer for me. If he
wants to kill one and donate it to charity, that's fine.
Beatrice:
So, I just find it a lot easier for me, but I live with a meat eater, and a family that
eats meat. So, I'm looking at ways I can incorporate that more, like I look at my
cutting board. I have a vinyl cutting board and a wooden cutting board. And I've
cut both meat and vegetables on that. And I think I will go get, you know how in
food service, and the restaurants, and the cutting boards for vegetables are
green, the ones for meat are red, and you don't mix them. All the kitchen staff
know that. Everybody with like serve-safe certification, or goes to the culinary
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�school, that's the code. I'll probably start working on that part of my
observance.
Beatrice:
When I started covering my hair here, people were in shock. The first time I put
on my head scarf, it was like, literally, people were shocked and I didn't know
why. Well, I found out, that years ago, this congregation was half Orthodox, and
half reform. The Orthodox are very strict. There's the reform, are the loosey
goosey, there's the conservative that are more observant, and then the
Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox, are really observant. Like for instance, I could
never be Orthodox, because they are like Christian Evangelicals, they believe
that the Old Testament said, “a man cannot lay with a man” that you cannot
accept any gays, or any kind of other in your community. What kind of religion is
that?
Beatrice:
I mean, I realize, and even though I love the Torah and I love reading it, that's
the first time in my life. Catholics never read the Bible. We never read the Bible.
I didn't read the Bible until I was like 68 years old. This is the first time in my life,
so it's like holy cow. I mean I'm reading about this and it's just mind boggling to
me. And I realize at first I took it literally. Like where it says if you know an
adulterer, you should take them out and stone them. So I came to synagogue
just all in a twit. And Rabbi goes, what's wrong with you? And I go, Oh I read
this, and I can't do that. And he goes Beattie, we don't do that. We know better.
So it's like okay. Now I realize it's not to be taken literally, except I guess Jews,
they pick and choose. Like I'll take the part literally about you can't eat this, you
can't eat that. I'm like well that's pretty clear cut. 'Cause that makes sense to
me.
Beatrice:
Recently, on a trip to California, I asked my Christian sisters could I officiate a
Shabbat dinner at their home. And they were very curious and all eager and said
yes. And it was wonderful. It was wonderful. It went very well. I was thrilled, and
I thought, oh this is just what I read about and dreamed about happening. It was
beautiful. My sister even was crying. She said it's so beautiful. It was wonderful.
And I'm so glad. See they really love me to let me do that. Because I think well
what if my husband decided to become a something Amish or something? How
open would I be?
Interviewer:
Yes.
Beatrice:
You know, and he'd invite me to his services. I went to mass with my sister and
her husband. They are very active Catholics. But I remained seated almost the
entire time I was there, because I can't stand when they're saying the creed,
which is " We believe in Jesus Christ, the son of the father." I'm like I can't stand
for things I don't believe. So I probably won't go with them again. I just really
wanted to see their new church. Yeah, so my family has been noting that I'm
quite obsessed with this topic. They understand it, and I'm trying to pull back
and not bring Judaism into every single discussion, every single conversation.
But it's hard because it is my new life. It is my new life and I love it.
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�Interviewer:
Can you describe your first memory of coming to temple?
Beatrice:
Yes. Coming up the front steps, and Fran Fisher who's 97 years old, she was 95
then, her step-daughter, Jackie Fisher was helping her up the front stairs. And so
I immediately swooped in, as a nurse, to help too. And I introduced myself, and
Jackie introduced herself, and I said well I was a nurse, and she said, "Oh I was
too." So just right away it was like bing, first thing. And then we had services in
the large chapel, even though there were only like 12 or 14 of us for the services
that night.
Beatrice:
Yeah, and I'll never forget that night, 'cause at the same time, in the park across
the street was the party in the park, which is a benefit party every Friday, in the
summertime. Different organizations will run it, and get to keep the profits,
non-profit organizations, like the Boys N Girls Club, or the Y, or the [inaudible]
Optimists, or Rotary. And they typically have a band, so as I walked from the
parking lot to the front of the temple, this rock music was playing, and all those
people were laughing and drinking beer. And I look over and there's actually a
goat over there. I don't know who had a goat, or who would expose a goat to
that loud rock music, but I thought this was so biblical. I'm walking to the temple
past the goat, and the partiers. You know it was like the heathens are over
there.
Interviewer:
The old goat.
Beatrice:
With the goat, you know we're over here going to church. So yes, I'll never
forget that first night. It was quite a sensory experience.
Interviewer:
So you haven't been here long.
Beatrice:
Correct.
Interviewer:
But, over the time that you have been here.
Beatrice:
Mm-hmm-
Interviewer:
What kinds of changes have you seen in the life of B'nai Israel?
Beatrice:
Well, I've seen things perk up considerably. The fact that we've had a couple
clean up days this year. We've cleaned out closets, and starting to look at how
outdated things are like the ladies room. And I mentioned that to Merle, and
she said, oh well the sisterhood has some money, we could loan you, or give you
to clean up the ladies room, to redecorate it and make it modern. And I'm like
wow, that's awesome. So, that's what I've seen. And then we've started having
pretty much, in the winter it's so cold up in the chapel, that we just stay in the
basement, and then in the summer, we just stayed down there because it was
cool.
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�Beatrice:
So that's been a change, and it's been more and more people are coming. We've
had much bigger crowds than we used to have. So I've seen attendance
increase, I've seen engagement and conversation increase. And now more
people are coming, there's someone else who wants to convert. I don't know
how often she's studying with Rabbi, I met her one time. So I've seen that. We
got the parking lot resurfaced, and so now we're turning our attention more to
the interior look of the place. I don't think we'll be making any major changes,
but that's kind of good 'cause that's what I'm interested in.
Interviewer:
Yeah, so what are your best and your worst memories from the time you've
spent here?
Beatrice:
There's so many bests. Gosh, I don't know what to pick. I guess I would say that
actually one day I studied with the Rabbi for five hours. And if we had stopped
and gotten something to eat and drink, I probably could have gone another five.
That was exceptional. To find a time that he and I both had that much undivided
time. And typically what we do, is first we just have a general discussion, 'cause
he always wants to talk about politics or whatever. So we do all the niceties, and
then we would maybe answer my questions. Like he'd say, "Well let's do this."
And I'd go, no I want you to answer me these questions, and then I want you to
start asking me questions. And then he'd always want to finish up with a
Hebrew lesson. I'm like so exhausted by that time. It's like God. So we'd go
through another lesson, and I was like so tired I couldn't' even think.
Beatrice:
So those have been the best, I think is my time with the Rabbi. Because that's
when the serious talk happens. You know, what do I want to learn? What am I
learning? And how do I feel about things? The worst would be occasionally I felt
that, and probably more at the beginning, like I didn't belong. I felt very
hampered by my lack of Hebrew School, like a lot of these people went to
Hebrew School as a child, even if their family wasn't ritually observant, they did
get that exposure, so very used to the language. And I forget, you know Rabbi
has a Master's degree in the Hebrew Language from the University in Israel. So,
you know, for him and his wife, 'cause she's very good at Hebrew, and Marsha,
the linguist, our linguist, a Master's degree in Linguistics. It's like holy cow.
Beatrice:
So I just felt stupid, like I wasn't really ... But I haven't felt that way in a long
time, like a year. So it's been just the first year and a half, I was lurching towards
Judaism like Frankenstein. Me, me want to be Jew. You know, so now it's a little
bit better.
Interviewer:
So how would you describe the values of this temple?
Beatrice:
The first value is to not hurt other people's feelings. And that's hard for me,
because I'm open and honest, and honestly I don't care if somebody tells me
something that might hurt my feelings. I always tell people, "Hit me on the head
with a two by four, I'm pretty dense." Sometimes things just shoot over my
head, but I notice they have an extraordinary concern about the feelings of
other people. I've never met any group of people like that in my whole life. I
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�mean I'm used to the operating room, where there's rules, and there's
procedures, and yet there's that responsibility. Like if you see something wrong,
to take immediate action. So it's very hard for me to hold back and not blurt
things out or take immediate action. They're training me to think differently.
Like, what is this person going to feel like when they hear this? Or when you do
that? So that's really big. Yeah, that's the big value here. That would be the
biggest one. And the other is personal concern. Honestly, outside of my natural
born family, this is my family now. I feel like people truly care. And in Judaism,
when you do good acts it's called a Mitzvah. There's also commandments, things
we are told to do to make ourselves holy for God. Isn't that cool? I love that
phrase. So we can be holy for God. I never thought that. So that to me, is what
my whole life is about now. What things can I do to be holy for God? And that is
the kind of stewards, other people, like visiting the sick, and we can't always tell
of the good things we do, or else it gets blotted out. So I won't tell you
everything I do. I need to do more, want to do more.
Interviewer:
That's cool. So what keeps you a member of this temple?
Beatrice:
The feeling of belonging, the social life that occurs here, and the religious life,
it's all one, and the same to me. I live in a rural area, on 44 acres. I can go out in
my field at night and do a 360 and not see a single light. I belong to gun club, so
I'm very comfortable in that male oriented atmosphere. Out where I live, people
still fly confederate flags. And they won't go to a certain gas station 'cause it's
run by Arabs. They're not Arabs, they're from Punjab, India, but those people
won't talk to them. So I don't really fit in out there. And I really want to move
into town. I'd rather move where my sisters live, but I've even considered
starting a Chavurah group, which is Jews who meet with no Rabbi. They just
meet in each other’s homes, say once a week, to celebrate Jewish Holidays and
services, and share food and songs. It would be for people who live out in the
boonies. You know, are too far to drive to a synagogue.
Interviewer:
Right.
Beatrice:
So maybe that would be for the future if I have to stay here. But I told my
husband I'm getting older, by age 75 I want out of there. I don't want to live out
there. So, I don't know what's going to happen then. My sister said, "Just come
to California, and when he misses you enough, he'll come out."
Interviewer:
That is one way to do it.
Beatrice:
Yes.
Interviewer:
So, last question. How do you envision the future of B'nai Israel?
Beatrice:
I think it's going to revive. People that used to be members here are moving
back to town. There's two or three people I think in the last six months that now
took jobs here, and so they've started to come to some events. I noticed they're
10
�not coming every Saturday, but we never know who's going to show up, which
is kind of exciting, 'cause you never know who you're going to meet. And I think
the area's growing. The Fremont area attracts a lot of educated people. We do
have Jews that live and work there, but I don't think they're affiliated.
Beatrice:
I worked with them and that was another resource before I actually started
coming here. I seem to have some kind of radar that, like one day my
supervisor, and supervisor from another area walked by my desk, and I called
out, "Happy Hanukkah Marian." And they didn't say anything. They just looked
at me, and later Cheryl came back, and she said, "How did you know Marian was
a Jew?" I said, "I didn't." There was just something ...
Beatrice:
So then I started noticing this one gal wore the Star of David, so I tried to chat
her up. She didn't want nothing to do with me. She's like you're real off-put ...
But she's the one that finally gave me, 'cause I finally went to her and said,
"Look, I've been studying for over a year, can you give me the name of
somebody, I want to get going." Oh yeah, but they're not looking for converts.
We have no website, that would be the biggest change if we could ever get a
website. 'Cause we have no presence in the community, 'cause people don't
know we're here. We don't run any big events. We don't host anything. We
don't have a website, where the other temples, they all have websites in Grand
Rapids. So I think that's a concern, bet we don't have any like webmaster ready
type people here. And I don't think we could really build one from Wicks, you
know build a site from start. We'd have to pay a company to do it and we don't
really have that in the budget at this time.
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Beatrice:
Yeah, so that's what I see would be a change. Otherwise, if it doesn't grow, and
if we don't get more with the times, I could see that we would give up the
building, and rent space from a Christian Congregation. 'Cause they wouldn't be
using it Friday night and Saturday, unless they were having something special.
'Cause I know that happens in other cities and towns all across the United
States. They share the space, 'cause it's not the building.
Beatrice:
That's the thing about Judaism, it's a home based religion. It's your Torah at
home. It's your family. It's the prayers you say at home and the rituals you
observe there. That makes the Jewish home. The synagogue is great, but it's not
the whole religion. So, it doesn't matter to me, I'm not as attached like it said on
your paper, how do you rate? Like I rated Judaism higher than B'nai, because
this building is just a building. I mean I feel comfortable here, now that I've been
everywhere in it, and I've had a lot of good experiences here. But, we can go
anywhere.
11
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d1c7a834a42454bc8fb50f8ffea83c46.mp3
edded1726d5c1c71d0cf9293c2cd5b6b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
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Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
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Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
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Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
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L'dor V'dor (project)
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DC-08
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image/jpeg
application/pdf
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eng
Date
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Circa 1920s-2018
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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DC-08_KoolovitzB_20181117
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Koolovitz, Beatrice
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2018-11-17
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Beatie Koolovitz (Audio interview and transcript), 2018
Description
An account of the resource
Beatrice (Beatie) Koolovitz was born in Detroit, the oldest of five children in a Catholic family. After being introduced to other aspects of Christianity and religious history as an undergraduate at Western Michigan University, she continued her spiritual path and eventually converted to Judaism. In this interview, Beatrice discusses her personal history and conversion, as well as her memories of B'nai Israel and the Muskegon Jewish community.
Contributor
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Ymker, Chavala (interviewer)
Subject
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Jews--United States--Personal narratives
Muskegon (Mich.)
Oral history
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Recorded for the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
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L'dor V'dor (project)
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
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Sound
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Language
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eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1e8cd683aebe6166bc0c4a3192d39e7d.pdf
69cc1cf01fb1585aaf6558d23d67481e
PDF Text
Text
L'dor V'dor project
Interviewee: Fran Boyden
Interviewer: Chavala Ymker and Marilyn Preston
Date: November 17, 2018
Place: Temple B’nai Israel, Muskegon, Michigan
Transcriber: Chavala Ymker
Fran Boyden was born in 1947 and has lived in Muskegon, Michigan her entire life. She spent
almost 40 years as a teacher at Mona Shores, and is now happily retired. Having been a
member of B’nai Israel from birth, the Temple has factored greatly in her experiences. She is a
proud wife, mother and grandmother of two.
CY:
Today is November 11, November 17 [2018] and I [Chavala Ymker] am here with...
FB
Fran Boyden
CY
Conducting an oral history for the L'dor V'dor project. Do you consent to participate and
have your history recorded for this project?
FB
I do.
CY
Alright. So we'll start with, just tell me about yourself and your life. And then what were
you like as a child and as a young adult?
FB
I'm 72 years old, almost. I'm a few months shy of that, but I'm really proud to be this
old. I never thought I would be. I was born into this congregation. I was born in 1947,
and the congregation already existed. This building was in the process of fundraising to
complete it. And it was opened, fully finished in 1948. So my whole life, all I've known is
Temple B'Nai Israel at Fourth and Webster. My grandparents, were among the families
that worked on the fundraising and contributed. And my father and mother were also
participants in that whole process. My mother was very active in Temple Sisterhood
and, I, I have brothers that were Bar Mitzvah'd here.
I was Bat Mitzvah'd here. I was one of the first girls that had a Bat Mitzvah. It
traditionally was a male thing and girls were sort of an afterthought. But I started
studying Hebrew when I was in third grade because that's the time my older brother
started-he was a fifth grader and I was so anxious to learn what those markings were
1
�that I couldn't wait and I, started Hebrew at that time. So by the time I reached 13, I was
demanding my Bat Mitzvah take place. And it did. And it was, it's always, been
something I've been very proud of. It's such a singular event in a young Jewish person's
life because the process involves learning to read Hebrew, which is a difficult language
and conducting an entire service that lasts about an hour and a half, including delivering
a sermon that is based on that portion of the Torah that you study. The Torah is Hebrew
with no vowels in it. So it's doubly difficult. It's not just written in those funny looking
little symbols that go right to left, but the words have no vowels. So you learn it from a
textbook, and then you learn it, you memorize it so you can read from the Torah and
read those words minus those vowels. It's very complicated. And when a young person
at 13 concludes that, they feel like they could do anything. And in fact, the temple
recognizes, Judaism recognizes, that once you've had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, you could
lead any service anywhere in the world as a rabbi-that you were entitled to lead. So it, it
is a, an amazing experience for a child.
Our son was, my husband and I have a son, Jason, who was raised in this temple, also
went through religious school, had his Bar Mitzvah here. And he moved away, married
and returned with his wife. And now, my grandchildren Noah and Goldie are both
enrolled in a Sunday school- United Jewish school-in Grand Rapids. Because we don't
have a Sunday School at Temple B'nai Israel anymore. We ran out of children, Noah and
Goldie were literally the last children here. So our son and daughter-in-law drive to
Grand Rapids every Sunday. And our grandson Noah will be 13 in March and his Bar
Mitzvah in this temple with Rabbi Alpert will be June 22, 2019. So I have this warm,
embery glow inside about Temple B'nai Israel because five generations have benefited
from the existence of this Temple as a grounding source for the family. It-it's not that
any of us were deeply religious, more reform Judaism. Our son did consider, Jason,
considered for a short while being a rabbi, and then considered being a cantor, because
music is his life. And I am just so happy to have Temple B'nai Israel.
We struggle. It's a small congregation now. At one time it had 150 members, and now
we're down to 40. But as a dear friend of mine, Merle Scholnich said a long time ago,
"We're a little, but mighty." It-it's almost like we're the Chanukkah Menorah. We were
supposed to have run out of oil a long time ago, [laughter] and we never have. It just
keeps, the flames keep burning. And I'm proud of that in a satisfying way-that Temple
has been really the center in, in my life. I've always wanted to be a teacher, so that's one
of the things- But my first opportunity to be a teacher, was when I finished Sunday
school at Temple B'nai Israel. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was a
Sunday school teacher. And so I got to experiment on [laughter] the other kids here.
2
�And I knew for sure that I wanted to spend my life as a teacher then.
CY
That's cool. So, would you be able to tell me a little bit more about your childhood and
youth outside of the temple?
FB
My childhood was unusual. I didn't know it at the time, but it was unusual. I, my parents
owned a business in Muskegon, and they also, besides living in Muskegon and having a
home
here, had an apartment in Florida and in the winter months they would go to Florida. And I
have three brothers that were Spring or Summer birthdays and they were all born in
Muskegon, Michigan. I was a February birthday, so I was born at St. Francis Hospital in
Miami Beach. I think though, that very first year having four children down there and
one of them, a baby, changed what they wanted to do. So, my two oldest brothers at
that time, were old enough that they didn't go back down to Florida when my parents
did.
And so, my mother hired a full time, live-in housekeeper who became very much like a
mother to me. And she, when my parents would continue to go to Florida in January,
often until March, she- She is Bea. Bea lived in our house, always, and for 25 years. And
so that covered from the time I was 1 until I was 26. And, she was a wonderful, kind,
loving support. That really helped ground me in the absence of my parents when they
were traveling.
I lived across the street from Nims school where I attended elementary, and so being
very close to the school and the playground and, you know, I could just cross the street
and go. I don't remember that I was particularly inspired student. I think I looked out the
window a lot and I learned later that I was pretty much a classic underachiever, maybe
in part because of the absence of my parents when they were gone and even when they
were home, working hours in the business. But my interests were not in learning, my
interests had more to do with making people laugh and just being kind of outrageous.
And I had a good time. [Laughter] Much to the dismay [laugher] of my parents who
really wish that I would have been a little more of a student.
I-in those growing up years, it was difficult if I look back at the things that I missed
because my parents were gone quite a bit or very involved in the business. And-but I
learned from that experience a great deal about how I wanted to parent. And I loved my
parents dearly, and I, I do, when I think of how unusual my growing up situation was, I
3
�think they really did the best they could with what they had because they had both
grown up in poverty. And so for them to be able to do the things that they did, you
know, it enriched their lives a great deal.
Do you know, I-one of the reasons that I loved going into teaching is because I had been
that underachiever. I knew that school was not necessarily a measure of intelligence,
and I had been more interested in making my class laugh than in, you know, acquiring
knowledge. But, I really learned after I graduated from high school and was accepted at
Eastern Michigan University because nobody else would have me. And I flunked out my
first year. I-I was sent home in June with the suggestion to never return. And I, I, I really
had to face facts at that point. I had wanted to be a teacher my entire life.The other key
person in my life, my wonderful sister-in-law, who I had come into my life when I was
five and M-she was 19, had such a tremendous effect on me that between her, Millie,
and Bea, I just always wanted to be a teacher and help and work with other kids.
When I flunked out of Eastern, I had to return and really face facts that in order to be
that teacher I wanted, to be, I was going to need a degree. [Laughter] So I enrolled in
Comm-Muskegon Community College and four pointed that for a full year. I had to
prove, you know, what I had. And then Grand Valley took me, and I really loved Grand
Valley. It was a little teeny tiny new college. [Laughter] It was 1968 when I went there
and there were six buildings the Great Lakes buildings plus the science building. And it
was a nice little school. But because of the way it was arranged in quarter system, there
were four quarters a year rather than tris, I was able between community college, and
Grand Valley to finish four years of college in three-going year round. So I still was able
to land my first teaching job at 22 after four years in college. And that first teaching job
was at Mona Shores. That first teaching job was at Mona Shores junior high at that time
and later Mona Shores high school when ninth graders became part of the high school.
And I was there for 38 years, almost four decades and I loved it dearly.
CY
So going off of that, what were some of the most important roles you've had in your life
so far?
FB
Well, I-I think number one, is being a mother. I, I know that my husband isn't thrilled to
hear that. [Laughter] When our son went off to college, my husband said, "Well, I finally
have my wife back," [laughter] and I was crying so hard to have lost my son to collegeSo being a mother was everything to me and having my son in my own school district,
having him as a student, being able to be part of his life as he was growing up, it was
4
�something very satisfying. And-and it made me very proud of him that when he from
high school, he left, went to school at the University of Michigan and was recruited to
teach music in Clark County Schools, which is Nevada [laughter], Las Vegas, Sin City. And
that's where he met his wife and they opted, after him being gone for 11 years to move
back here. And I'm very proud of that because we did everything to make him strong
and independent. He went out and figured it out for himself and then decided that he
and his wife, with her full support and agreement, Ruby, wanted to raise their children
here, not in Las Vegas. So we were very lucky to have them return.
Obviously for me, the second most important role, but the one I treasure most today is
as a wife. I met my husband when I was 17. Rick has been the anchor in my life. We will
celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in June. And I-but like any long-term marriage,
my favorite thing to say is, I vacillate between being scared to death he's going to die
and wanting to murder him with my own bare hands [laughter], because, he and I are a
lesson in long-term relationships being problematic, problem solving, supportive,
forgiving, and just being best friends because there isn't anything you haven't seen or
done. And I-I feel sorry for the people who think when they find those first faults in their
mate that it's time to pack it in. So that my relationship, my marriage has been, has-I
can't even define the importance it's so deep.
Other roles, teacher-being a teacher. Oh, I-I've been retired for 11 years and I miss it so
much, but I could no longer physically stand the schedule up at quarter to six every
morning and teaching sick or well, because it's easier to go do it than to write plans for a
sub and know, it wasn't going to really happen the way it needed to. So, I-my teaching
years were wonderful. I had not just the joy of the rapport and relationships with kids-I
had the pleasure of having students who then grew up, got married and brought me
their children. And I retired just before I heard, "You had my grandma" for the first time.
[Laughter]. But I sure heard, "You had my mom, you had my dad, you had my uncle, you
had..." And I always used to love telling the kids what 'bonditons'-that's a Yiddish word
for bandit-their parents had been-or relatives.
The-I had mentioned before, that one of the reasons I retired was for the physical
reasons of not being able to handle that kind of schedule and the hours-teaching
speech, which was my last assignment, meant that for every speech, I took in detailed
outlines that had-bibliography sheets at the end, and in-text citations, and the job
became so difficult to correct for every speech-that boat load-and having to correct,
because we were newly into computers at that time, and computers-the computers
didn't have programs that would have the kids set up their bibliography page. They
5
�actually-we had to use a handbook, and I felt like I spend half of my life circling commas
that weren't supposed to be there and putting in [laughter] semicolons that should be,
and it became just a really difficult thing.
The other thing that changed was the political climate and I could not, you, you know-I
left so much in my classroom every day is how I felt. I gave it my all, I referred to myself
as a one dimensional person everything was education. And I couldn't stand what I was
seeing happening with parents, that I was becoming the enemy, that if I found someone
was plagiarizing and talked to parents about it, they wanted to tell me that my
expectations were just too high and that I should lighten up. And a couple of them went
after my job [laughter] and I, I adopted at one point the attitude of-and this is where it
was hard for me-"Okay, this is your only chance parents to have your child get all this
free support in education. I'm done with your child in a semester. You've got a life
sentence. So you can enable them as much as you want and I promise you they'll be in
your basement for a lot longer than you wanted them." Well, that wasn't a popular
thing for me to say, but by the end of my career, I was saying it.
And the last thing that pulled me out of my classroom-that made me know it was time
to retire-was the birth of our grandson Noah. And I was so jealous because my
husband's work schedule was very flexible, and every Tuesday he had Noah all to
himself all day, and that was just not fair. So I taught one more year and then I retiredhappily. I mean, it wasn't like I was done with it, I treasured that last year I taughteverything I did not as, "Oh, this is it, this is never, great!" It-everything I did felt more
like I-this is the last time I'm going to be teaching a debate- constructive speech. And so
I have to do it really well. And it was satisfying for me when I retired to feel like I was the
best teacher in my entire career on that last year I taught. So, that's pretty much me.
That pretty much defines, you know, everything that has been important in my life.
CY
Yeah, I can-definitely. Thank you for sharing that. Okay. So now we're going to move on
to some more questions about what it means to you to be a Jew. So how would you
describe what it is to be a Jew for you?
FB
I, you know, I don't even know if this means anything to people anymore, but I grew up
in the years when the Catholic Church was teaching Jews as Christ killers. When there
had to be something wrong with you if you didn't embrace Jesus as your personal Lord
and Savior. And when I was the only Jewish student in my classroom at Nims school, one
of two or three at Nelson junior high, one of three or four at Muskegon high school, I
6
�was always the outsider. And I was particularly that outsider because-and here's the
phrase that makes me crazy-I don't look Jewish. There is a stereotype, and when we
were in New York, we went to the Jewish Museum, and in the Jewish Museum there is a
display of the hate art that occurred in Germany and other places in the world. It always
depicted Jews with these big awful noses. It was always-they were always dark. Well,
Semites, you know, you've heard anti semite. That means, you know, not liking Jews,
but Semites basically are darker skinned. And I was that blonde haired, blue-eyed, perky
little nose kid growing up. So I was often in situations where people would say anti
semitic things because they felt they were safe. They thought they were saying it with
no Jew around.
I had several instances when I was going through school, I was an eighth grader at Nelson junior
high, and the Easter assembly happened. And they had a speaker at the Easter assembly
and it was a lawyer in the community. And as his speech, he came in and he tried and
convicted the Jews in his speech of killing Jesus and sentenced them to death. It was the
first time that I had ever seen anything quite so bold. You know, there was a Christmas
program every year in elementary complete with the manger and I was always the
narrator because I had a strong, clear voice and I think they were afraid to make me an
angel or a sheep. I-it just wouldn't have worked out for me. And so I was always the
narrator. But when I got to that eighth grade assembly for Easter yet, I was angry and I
walked out of that assembly and went and sat in the office. Even my parents were angry
with me because I had made a ripple. You just didn't call attention to yourself. Because
of that, I'm probably crabby about the public schools.
I taught for 38 years at Mona Shores many of those years home of the singing Christmas
tree. And my classroom was down the hall from the choir room and I heard Christmas
music starting in August, and going through the entire semester. I, I just felt like, if you
were a Jewish kid or you were of any other religion besides Christian, the comparisons
and the feeling of being excluded was just great, huge. And I-but I've always, in my
teaching, I had a person that-another teacher-that actually became a very, very [good?]
friend. But when I was with him one time he talked about someone 'jewing' him out of
something and I said-this is how I've always handled it since then because I've heard
that often-I always use it as an education point and I say, "You know, I know you
probably aren't aware and don't mean to be hurting me. But I'd like you to hear that
through my ears. What is it that you're saying about someone when you say you're
'jewing' them out of, or they're 'jewing' you out of? And if you are in fact Jewish, then
what do-" That adult co-teacher, colleague, was part of the social studies department
and drank what I said in and started a Holocaust remembrance week. And so for many
7
�years, at Mona Shores, and you know, I've been out 11 years. There was a always a
Holocaust remembrance observance, just as a jumping off point to talk about
eventually, [inaudible] demeaning people, being aware of, you know, with some
sensitivity. So I am somewhat crabby and combative, but, and I do speak my mind, but I
try to do it in the calmest, most educated way. I am amazed that people don't even
know sometimes that they're saying something that is based in anti semitism.
CY
Yeah. So how do you practice Judaism?
FB
I love coming to Shabbat morning services. We didn't always have these. I did not like
coming to Friday night services all the years that I taught. By the time 5:00 [PM] rolled
around on Friday, I was spent, nothing was getting me out of the house, even a good
party, not even a football game. I'm-I've been actively involved in the temple for all but
about 10 years. I took a time out for about 10 years. My husband Rick never took a time
out. He's always been in there just working and helping to manage and be part of the
labor around the Temple. As we've gotten older and had illness, that hasn't, you knowwe cannot do labor anymore. We used to take care of Gilana's Garden. That was
something that was very meaningful to us. We enjoyed gardening and when Rabbi and
Anna lost their daughter, Gilana, and the Temple decided that the sunken garden would
become Gilana's Garden, for us, the spirituality of working that garden was practicingHonestly, Rick is pretty much an atheist. I don't believe that he, that's the word he says.
He lives a very moral, spiritual, kind of service oriented [life], you know, for the Temple.
We observe the holidays, not in a conservative or Orthodox way. We engage in all the
Temple activities. We really enjoy being with our Temple family. That is what it has
become to all of us. I'm really proud of our members because it is a temple family, and
we have many people who have settled here from other places and so they, they don't
have proximity to cousins or siblings or whatever. So that's one reason, but the other
reason is, simply we enjoy each other.
So, I, I love reading Hebrew. I taught Hebrew to three of my very good friends and when
I first retired, there was a joint Bat Mitzvah, of four women who were all in their sixtiesthey had never had Bat Mitzvahs. Two of them were fluent Hebrew readers, but they
were scared to death of public speaking. The other two were pretty comfortable public
speakers, but they couldn't read a word of Hebrew. So and for me, I was retired and that
was the best class I ever had because they all wanted to learn. And so I taught those two
friends Hebrew, and one of them is Lee who's also being interviewed right now. We
8
�have been friends for almost 70 years [laughter] and-and Andy was the other person.
And I would work with them first individually and then together, while I still had my own
Hebrew class with Marcia and Helen who were fluent readers. And then we put the-I
put the four of them together and they divided up the service, divided up the prayers
and it was really a beautiful event where, you know, they did a joint Bat Mitzvah called a
B'not Mitzvah and it was one of the high points in my life to be able to help that. And I,
it was-they were the best students I ever had. [Laughter]
And so I guess in how I practice Judaism, I am not somebody who even believes we need
to brick and mortar structure for religion. I think, in fact, I, this sounds like a joke, but I
don't really-it is what I believe. I, I'm not sure there ever has been a God. I think it's a
spelling error that 'good' is the word that we should have in our minds and our hearts.
What's good? And somebody just didn't know how to spell it, so they called it God and
then it started all kinds of arguments about, you know, how it could be used for some
people to gain power and riches. And I, I guess that's my-I'm not crazy about organized
religion speech.
CY
I agree. [Laughter]
FB
You know, it's just a big spelling error, get over it. Well, and it's difficult because I, I
sometimes read an ad where someone's looking for child care for their family and they
want a good Christian woman. And I, you know, I had a friend who put that ad in the
newspaper at one point and I said, "Hon, you think I could come and raise your kids?"
"Oh, Fran! I'd love that. I'd love that." "I'm sorry I'm not Christian." [Laughter]
CY
So you were talking a little bit about how you took a break for about 10 years. Can you
tell me a little about that?
FB
Yeah, it was figuring some things out for myself. It was a rough part of my life. There
was a lot of illness. I was losing my mother and my sister-in-law. And of course I was
working full time and really, really involved there. When I taught from Mona shores, I, I
always found myself in these positions where I was doing more than what was in the
classroom. I was in the initial group that wrote the mission statement for the district. I
mean, I was always the-there were the committees, the endless committees
the
North Central Accreditation and the, you know, chair of this and the- And I don't mean
to promote myself as a leader or self-important, but just, for me, when I look at a task, I
see it in steps and it's easy to I think starting one step at a time that anybody can do
9
�anything.
And it's part of what I used to teach my students, you know, when I taught speech and
we were going to do a debate at the end of this unit and they didn't have a clue what it
was. I literally would draw on the board this step drawing that was what we do each day
in order to build to that last ability of writing a constructive-of taking a viewpoint,
proving, creating main points, doing that constructive speech, knowing how to crossexamine, knowing how to- Everything is just a little tiny, one step at a time and it's such
a logical thing to me. So I often wind up being that person who will say-well, at least
that's the way it was at school, "I think the first thing we probably should do is-" And,
and so, you know, I was really deeply involved-back to my, I'm a one dimensional
person, it's all about education. So that, you know, that, and I don't know- I-socially it
was, it was just a difficult part of my life kind of, dealing with those realities, that you
think will just not really happened to you when you're young.
CY
Yeah. [Laughter] So the next question is, can you tell me about a time that you
questioned your faith?
FB
Well, every year when I put up my Christmas tree, [laughter] but it isn't that I
questioned my faith. No, I mean-I can't say that I've always been convinced that there is
a God. I, I do remember that when Bea died-and I was 26-and I sat at her funeral and I
was just uncontrollable and-I was crying so hard-and I thought, I still, the thought went
through my head, "Oh my God, I better get some religion before the next person dies."
And then it's like the second voice in my head said, "Wow, you're really something." And
you know, I-it isn't that I questioned my faith. I look in nature, I-we live close to the
beach and I-our house-our backyard is a tree covered dune. And I-and we're gardeners. I
don't think that things are coincidental. I, the longer I live, the more I can see the
patterns and the up and down and the more I have accepted that life is just one, one big
set of changes. The only constant is change and that sometimes they come
unexpectedly, like death comes out of time. You know, I-I had a twelve-year-old seventh
grader in South Shores Junior High, who dropped dead in his gym class. And then I, you
know, it was unexpected and-but it's something we're never really-there is no good
time, it's a painful event. But we just-as I age, I have gotten more accepting that it is part
of life. You can't live if you don't die and, you know, the-what do I do today and how do I
feel about it today is the important thing. So I often say, and I don't know, I'll probably
one of the be one of those screaming crazy people "Save me! Save me!" But I-I often
think that if I died today, I would be okay with that. There isn't anything to me that's left
unsaid or undone that would be torturous. [Laughter]
10
�CY
That's cool.
FB
Well I'm grateful. I'm just grateful because that hasn't always been true, but I think
there should be some reward for putting up with all this physical crap.
CY
Right? [Laughter]
FB
My bones hurt, you know. I'm diabetic, you know, I have stuff happening and- But I
think some peace of mind and having expectations that are realistic and just being
grateful because you, you can look any place and see somebody who's suffering so
much more.
CY
Yeah. So now we're going to kind of transition into talking about the temple more.
FB
Okay.
CY
So what-can you describe your earliest memories of the Temple? What was it like
growing up here?
FB
Sunday school, Sunday school- There are classrooms up in the third floor. You've seen
those and that little kindergarten classroom with its own bathroom in it and the artwork
up there. The balcony-being able to sneak across the hall and look through the little
glass inserted window into the balcony. This is all-I'm not speaking in complete
sentences because I just want to do this flow and they're just-I don't want to complete
every thought. [Laughter] I'm just trying to let it rip. I'm loving the idea of being in that
balcony because you could hide in it and you could-if I was at Temple with my parents, I
and one of my other little people could sneak up those stairs and get in the balcony and
look over it. Then my later classes in religious school, were in the social hall and it- I
always look up at that ceiling because they had tracks up there that these doors that
would slide and give you some semblance of privacy or you know, you could actually do
some teaching in there.
And I, I just remember, I didn't know anybody who liked Sunday school and that is so
generational. I mean, it doesn't matter who you talk to and they- Nobody liked Sunday
school because you had to get up on Sunday, because they maybe had too intellectual
of a teacher for the grade you were in, you never got to do enough art projects, and
11
�there was always the damn I'm Chanukkah play. And there was a Purim carnival where
you got to dress as a character in the Purim story, and then you go downstairs and you
could play- You could do musical chairs, which was actually a cakewalk. So you could win
a cake, which to me as a child was kind of heavenly. And then the Passover Seder, which
was absolutely terrible because you had to sit for two and a half hours and the rabbis
that we had when I was a child were just horrid. They wouldn't allow any noise at all.
Children were not welcome or if you did dare bring yours, you better shut them up.
And they-you know, the rabbi that married Rick and me was from South Africa. He was
our "apartheid rabbi". I don't even know how you get to be a rabbi if you believe in
segregation of races. But he was- He didn't last here real long, which we were quite
pleased about. He was a South African who temporarily got bounced into Muskegon, I'm
not sure how, but he conducted our wedding and you know, and- I have a lot of
memories.
I went to Nelson Junior High School and I have a lot of memories in elementary school of
walking here [B'nai Israel] after school for Hebrew school and walking here because my
mother would be working on the Passover Seder. And so, I was around here a lot as a
child. There was a little kids organization called the Hadassah Buds and you know, it was
all the little girls in their little dresses and our mothers would get us together and we
were never quite sure why-it felt like another Sunday school session. You know, I used
to think that the High Holidays was a fashion show. It was the day that-the days that my
mother would make sure she had taken me shopping and crammed me into some dress
that didn't fit and we would all come and admire each other's clothes and it was just- It's
so not like that now, you know.
But in-in my childhood years the temple was not nearly the friendly place it is today. It
was not the warm and welcoming place. I-that's my memory. And it was cliqueish and
gossipy and you know, I just, I don't see that now. And we all actually today we're too
small, you know, to be at odds with each other. We need everybody. And in the old days
they were very judgmental and they did things like print the amount of money you gave
in dues, you know, or in fundraising and sometime- I mean it was just not. The Temple
was not the warm, fuzzy place that it is today.
CY
So what changes have you witnessed over the life of the Temple?
FB
The biggest change that I saw was the coming of Alan Alpert and from the point that he
came here, the tone changed and it was difficult for him because he was dealing with
12
�some pretty tough people who didn't want change. He wanted to be more inclusive. He
was the one that when he had Gilana, their first child, and she made noise in a service
and some of those people in that day said, "We can't have any noise," and it-Rabbi will
tell you, it's one of the times, few times, in his years here that he said,"If children are
not allowed in services, you have the wrong rabbi and I need to leave." And so he really
brought the beginning of change. He became a much greater, kinder emissary to the
community. The other rabbis, if you can imagine the apartheid rabbi, and before him we
had some real ringers too. And, that I only-I don't even want to say anything aboutExcept note in the audio that I'm shaking my head "No", as I'm telling you that I don't
want to talk about the others.
Rabbi is so beloved here, and also to the general community because he is warm and
open and caring. And I have-he always, he mentioned today in services that he was
upset with himself because he can usually see things from both sides. I would cross out
'usually' and say he always sees things- It doesn't matter what you observe. If you say to
him, "Rabbi, I think so and so is-" he's always going to present you with another
possibility. And it's his wisdom. It's his kindness. And I-our life would have been totally
different if he hadn't come. The last rabbi that was here, I didn't want-our son had been
born-and I didn't want him anywhere around the temple and I just had a bad feeling
about that rabbi. But when Alan came, one of the first things he did, my father was
dying at that time, he sat at the hospital every day with my mother. And my mother
loved Alan like a son and he just, he brought with him here, just a whole different flavor
and you couldn't help but love him and he just brings people together. He is so
wonderful that I have to ask them to leave me alone. [Laughter] Rick suffered throughRick and I both did-a time that spanned about six months, a year or so ago, and then it
happens periodically of illness, and serious stuff. I have to ask rabbi not to text or call
and to forgive me for asking that because I couldn't get a nap in [laughter] because
they'd be texting
"How is he, what can I do? Do you need anything? I'm going to
Meijer," and you know.
So it's just, he is the great change, and has made this a warm and comfortable place to
be. So, many people have said, "When Rabbi leaves," because that is going to happen.
Their children are grown. Aleza lives in North Carolina. David is in New York. And Aleza
has a baby now and will have more. And you know, and Gilana is buried in California,
and I hear the clock ticking and a lot of people say this temple will fall apart when Alan
leaves. And my response, "How dare you say that? What an insult to him that he has
done so little here that without him we're nothing. If you really want to pay homage to
who he is and what he has done here, then you have a commitment to keep this going."
13
�So, that's the change. I feel like we've been talking a long time. Am I-I'm a little worried
about the time.
CY
I think as long as Marilyn doesn't come in, we should be good.
FB
Okay.
CY
I only have like three questions left.
FB
Okay. Okay.
CY
Alright. So the next one is what are your worst and best memories of the temple?
FB
That's really hard to say because that really reflects what, you know- Everybody is a
product of their own experiences. I hate to even put this in here-I'm just going to say it. I
have always been a little fat girl, as a 90 pound kindergartener. So I've always had that
baggage and I don't care if anybody believes me or not, but it's metabolic damn it. And
someday science is going to substantiate that. But-so if I talk about my best or worst
memories of the Temple, a lot of times what I'm doing would be reflecting how I was
feeling about myself. So in that question, I don't think the Temple has always been the
warmest and welcoming place in the world. I think that although my dad would have
been viewed as successful in that money realm because remember the winter in Florida
that looks, you know- But I-I think there was a kind of moneyed group that made things
difficult for others. And I, you know, I didn't always feel like I was included as a younger
person, but I have to temper that again with 'I'm a product of my own experiences and
reflecting what I'm doing to myself kind of.' So I'm really, you know, hesitant to say
much about that. My childhood was quite unhappy, so that means that there would be
a lot that goes with that andBut the thing that I would be proud of, are really best memories, were when I had my
Bat Mitzvah. Being able to learn to read Hebrew. I loved my Hebrew teacher dearly. Her
father had been a rabbi. She and her husband, her husband's father had been a rabbi,
they were both really brilliant people and I just loved being in her company and learning
Hebrew. I also had a really good memory are some of my Sunday school teachers. I
remember Roz Grossman, who may she rest in peace, was a lovely, wonderful warm
woman. I had broken my leg in [laughter] an ice skating accident. We were playing
14
�"Catch and Kiss" at the ice rink. And these guys threw me over and [laughter] I broke a
leg. And she was my Sunday school teacher that year and she would come to visit me,
and she was just a sweetheart. I also-Carol Rosen is another person who has passed
away, died way too young, but she was somebody else that I admired so much. You
know, I think that's it.
CY
So I'm going to push back just a little bit.
FB
Okay.
CY
I understand if you don't want to share a worst memory, but because this is your
personal history and we do understand your experiences and the environment[s] all of
us grow up in completely inform how we see things, if you would like to share, I think
we understand that.
FB
I think I can't isolate the worst experience. I think the often-happening experience of
feeling embarrassed, unsure. You know, and I'm also thinking of the same time, if you
were to talk to other people, their eyes would be wide open because I had a defense
mechanism of acting just the opposite that would make me the most outrageous. You
know, it was my defense mechanism, you know, I'd straightened those shoulders out
and make that spine straight and, you know, nobody would be able to tell it from the
outside because of the defense mechanism was pretty strong. I've had people comment
on the degree of confidence that they saw in me at various times and I always say, "Oh
man, you should have been in this side of my eyes," you know. [Laughter] So my
defense mechanism was successful, but it didn't deal with the inner turmoil.
CY
Yeah. [Laughter] I can identify with that.
FB
Yeah.
CY
So what would you describe as the values of [the Temple?]?
FB
Well, again, I have to look at the values of today because it has been in change and I
think the values are back to God being misspelled, "Be good". And you know, that's just
a simple word and I- But I think we all know what good is, because you can feel it when
you do it. And it goes back to, "How would you like to be treated? What is it that you
15
�need? What are your needs that you would like to have fulfilled and are you capable of
fulfilling somebody else's needs in those areas?" But sincerely, not the phony, you
know? I say, "I love you," to a lot of people, but I think love is a word that has a different
depths, different- I mean, it isn't like the love that I have for my son is not the love that I
had for my dog, but yet we're still crying from July. And so, [laughter] you know, it isThere's kind of like a line. But I think sincerity. I cannot stand a phony. I can feel it.
And I found with my students-maybe one of the reasons I had so much fun with them
and so much luck-was that I was real. You know, I didn't-I always have said about selfesteem, "You want to build somebody's self-esteem, a student? Give them something
hard to do and then help them find their way through it. And then they'll feel so good
about it." You can tell your kid all you want that they're the handsomest, the smartest,
the sweetest, and it's bull. That's why kids say, "Thanks mom," {laughter] you know. You
help somebody do something difficult. And to me that's- Like when I worked with the
B'not Mitzvah ladies, my friends, that joy was because they were joyful, you know. Theyone of them never thought that in her sermon she could get up and expose herself in
that way. But I mean her speech was so beautiful and people were so moved by it. And
what she got out of that was, you know, just huge.
CY
So what keeps you a member of this temple?
FB
Hmm. Well, my husband for one thing. [Laughter] He loves being treasurer so much he
knows that if we quit we couldn't be. I couldn't as long as I draw breath and there's a
facility here, even in the years that I didn't-I felt like I didn't need bricks and mortar and I
didn't need a temple-I felt, both Rick and I felt a strong sense that we needed to keep it
here for the people who needed the bricks and mortar. And that maybe we even
needed it. [inaudible] I mean, Rick loves to come down to the Temple and [inaudible],
you know, I-
[Door knock and laughter]
FB
I said, "I feel like we've been going a really long time."
MP
You have. Everyone else is already switching out and so I'm just coming in to check.
CY
One and a half more questions.
16
�MP
And if for whatever reason you need to, like come up with or whatnot, there's always that
Wednesday. So it's okay to do that too. Rick's down there and he's like, "Fran's still going."
FB
You know and I said, "Boy, this feels like a really long time." And you know, Ah Hava
Raba said [laughter], "Well, unless Marilyn comes in we're not in trouble." [Laughter]
MP
I have such power.
FB
So we've been waiting for you. I just wanted to see if I could-
MP
Could wait it out.
FB
Yeah, here's the problem. She's too good a listener. And I've away from teaching too long.
And like when she gives me all of those nonverbal cues
the direct eye contact, the
nodding the head, the facial expressions. You really out did yourself.
MP
Chavala's good.
FB
I think this one is also very empathetic and she draws that out and it's dangerous
because is it nightfall yet? What time is it?
MP
It's like 1:00.
FB
Okay. Oh good. When we had company coming at 3:00.
MP
Chavala has a second interview to do with Beaty.
FB
Okay.
MP
Beaty is also very chatty and has been getting the coffee going. [Laughter]
FB
I haven't had time to eat my bagel.
CY
I know!
17
�FB
It's probably some hard old thing.
CY
I'm just watching the cream cheese harden on the edge.
FB
Wait, I thought you were listening to me. You just outted yourself. [Laughter] She has 71
teeth. [Laughter] "Hey Marilyn, did you notice she has a gold tooth?"
CY
All the things I've learned so far. [Laughter]
FB:
That is too funny.
CY
Alright. So, back to what keeps you a member here.
FB
I can't imagine, I could never-I like the fellowship and I don't even like to use that word
to me it- I just have the connections here that it would never occur to me to exit this
Temple. I get angry at certain things, but an exit strategy is not on my list.
CY
Yeah, it's good to have that center and base. Last question.
FB
Oh my God.
CY
How do you envision the future of B'nai Israel?
FB
You know, and I've kind of already answered that, but I could flush that out just a little
bit more. I envision that there will be a point that Alan, he made a commitment to us to
be here and I did the math, my little Goldie, will have her Bat Mitzvah with Rabbi. She's
nine. But you know, the joke about 'plans are what God laughs at' and so never really
knowing what's around the corner, what I feel like it as long as I'm still part of this I see
us looking for a student rabbi, a visiting rabbi. I have seen other congregations that have
been close to closing. I know some that have also too, and combined with others or just
disappeared. But I have seen my niece's congregation in Flint their rabbi's gone, they got
a student rabbi. They really, really liked this student rabbi, that student rabbi [was]
really bolstering membership. I just see this existing. We do our best in this structure to
keep it attractive and viable. It's a new parking lot out there. There was a new roof two
years ago. We've always worried about not being able to pay for those very expensive
things that are $23,000, $22,000, but it's almost like every time we get to that point and
18
�it's like, where's that coming from? Someone produces magic and we have angels that
lived here at one time. Rick is very good at sending letters out to all of our members and
past members. And in terms of money to keep going, I don't worry about that anymore.
Not after what I've seen all these years.
But one of our other members once posed a question that I found much more terrifying
and that is 'What if we run out of people?' So when we see Marilyn and Ellen, when we
see any younger faces, new people moving in, wanting to affiliate- We think what we
have here is so special. Historic. Caring. That I want to see new people moving in and I
want us to have the forward-thinking to allow those new people to do some leading.
Not, "Oh, we've always done it this way," you know. Okay. That was my swan song.
CY
Thank you so much
FB
You're so welcome. Now I have to go down and put up with my husband. No, I have to
go get my picture taken.
CY
Oh, that'll be fun. [Laughter]
19
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f35ceecfc27200f93174a9b30ff6bb0b.mp3
4f0e334a81cc38179aab2ae53bec1f5c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Temple B'nai Israel Collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Temple B'nai Israel (Muskegon, Mich.)
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of photographs, scrapbooks, programs, minutes, and other records of the Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan. The collection was created as part of the L'dor V'dor project directed by Dr. Marilyn Preston, and was supported by grants from the Kutsche Office of Local History and Michigan Humanities Council. Original materials were digitized by the University Libraries and returned to the synagogue.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Digital objects were contributed by Temple B'nai Israel as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Scrapbooks
Synagogues
Women--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Preston, Marilyn
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Image
Text
Type
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image/jpeg
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1920s-2018
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
DC-08_BoydenF_20181117
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boyden, Fran
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-11-17
Title
A name given to the resource
Fran Boyden (Audio interview and transcript), 2018
Description
An account of the resource
Fran Boyden was born in 1947 and has lived in Muskegon, Michigan her entire life. She spent almost 40 years as a teacher at Mona Shores. Having been a member of B'nai Israel from birth, the temple factored greatly in her experiences. In this interview, she discusses her personal and family history as well as memories of the temple and Muskegon Jewish community.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Ymker, Chavala (interviewer)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jews--United States--Personal narratives
Muskegon (Mich.)
Oral history
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Recorded for the L'dor V'dor project.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Relation
A related resource
L'dor V'dor (project)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng