SO, WHAT’S NU?
RANDY SCHOCH
It feels good to resume writing this article again after a brief hiatus. Jackie and I were traveling in the south the third week of May and then I traveled to Ohio with my Masonic Lodge the last week of May.
Jackie and I were invited to our grand niece’s wedding in Huntsville, AL on Saturday May 21st. We went a few days early and stayed a few days after in order to visit with family and do some sightseeing (including a minor league baseball game). The rehearsal dinner was on Friday evening so we were not able to attend the Historic Temple B’nai Sholom Reform Synagogue (1898) because they only met on Friday evening (we did go to center city a few days later to see the temple). So on Shabbos morning, we attended Etz Chayim Conservative Synagogue near our motel. Jim Weinberger’s family belongs to both congregations. The interfaith wedding service was conducted by local clergy but I was honored to give the wedding blessing to the young couple. Before we left Huntsville, we did have lunch with the Weinberger’s at a local restaurant.
Our Masonic trip to Marion, Ohio was for the purpose of laying a wreath in honor of Masonic Brother and President Warren G. Harding on Memorial Day. In the company of the Grand Master of Ohio and the Grand Master of Washington, DC and many Masons from Ohio and DC, I was honored to be the officiating clergy for several of the events during and after Memorial Day (clergy/ chaplains are required at all Masonic meetings and events).
A few days after I got back, a call came from a former Grand Master of DC asking me to be the rabbi/ chaplain for a famous (Jewish) person who was going to receive his Masonic degrees on Friday June 10th morning. So as the rabbi/ chaplain along with a degree team, Academy Award Winning Actor Richard Dreyfuss was made a Mason.
A call came on the Sha’are Shalom answering service asking me to contact Senator Ben Cardin’s (who is Jewish) office. Upon returning the call, Mr. Jerome Stephens and Mr. Hammad Matin asked me to be present and do the intro/bio before Sen. Cardin gave his talk to the Clergy Roundtable at the New Life Church in LaPlata. Some of the topics discussed by the senator and the clergy were unemployment, feeding the hungry, the housing crisis, illegal immigrants, Federal Programs, money for the local Southern Maryland area, etc.
A little bit of Kabbalah from the Rebbe, obm before closing: I don’t believe in philosophy. I believe in ideas that change people.
¥¥¥¥¥¥,
R. Schoch, PRF Emeritus
Disclaimer: Anything written in this column is only my own impression of events, the way that I interpret them, and not meant to be factual and true. If confronted by a challenge, I will immediately claim senility and deny writing whatever is being challenged.