The Children’s Village Holiday Party 2019: A Success

Dear Friends,

On Friday, December 27, Temple Emanu-El hosted the Children’s Village Annual Holiday party in I. M. Wise Hall. What a truly wonderful and festive celebration as over 280 children and their foster parents enjoyed a delicious meal and scrumptious desserts. 80 staff members from the Children’s Village also attended, as many of them work closely with the families. So may happy faces as each child received a Winter Wish that was age- and gender-approriate from Santa Claus. The children were entertained with an arts and crafts center, glitter tattoos, balloon sculptures (which were a huge hit), and a performance by Sam Allen — a Hip Hop/Choreographer from LA who graciously gave his time and expertise to dance with the children!

These children may not have received a gift for Christmas this year, which makes this even even more moving. This is the second opportunity Temple Emanu-El has had to host this party. Hopefully this will become an annual event! The theme was a “Christmas Wonderland” and Temple Emanu-El volunteers decorated I.M. Wise Hall and supplied all the beverages. A huge thank you to all who were there to support this very important cause. The children and their families were so excited and had so much fun. It is very difficult to express the emotion in the room that day. To see these young children so very happy for a short time during the day was overwhelming. Their lives are in a state of turbulence and  Temple Emanu-El is so blessed to be able to provide support and a sense of community for a few hours during the holiday season to make their days a bit brighter.

The Children’s Village was founded in 1851, and today, their mission remains very much the same: they work in partnership with families to help society’s most vulnerable children so that they become educationally proficient, economically productive, and socially responsible members of their communities. Read more about The Children’s Village by clicking here.

Many, Many thanks to Jesus Toribio, our staff, Mark Heutlinger, Rachel Sackman and Erika Resnik as without their assistance this party would not have been possible.

Temple Emanu-El and all of our volunteers are so blessed to be able to assist those who need support, showing that people within the community really do care as we share comfort, conversation and compassion.

Wishing you all a New Year filled with much love, happiness, peace and good health.

With Gratitude Always,

Lori, Marlene & Susan
Tikkun Olam Committee

A bit of history

The following Christmas songs were all written by Jewish  composers:

Certainly everyone knows that White Christmas was written by Irving Berlin a Russian-born, Israel Isidore Beilin, who also wrote “God Bless America.” Berlin’s 1942 dream of snow on Christmas morning defines the holiday for many Americans.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was written by John Marks. Marks, born John David Marks in Mount Vernon, NY, based his song on a short story written by his brother-in-law Robert May. Marks also wrote such classics as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver and Gold” and “Run Rudolph Run.”

Chestnuts Roasting on an open Fire was written by by Mel Torme. Long before he was The Velvet Fog, singer Torme was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants with the surname Torma. In 1945, he teamed up with longtime collaborator Wells, also Jewish.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. One of the bounciest Christmas numbers, Cahn (born Samuel Cohen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Galician Jews Abraham and Elka Cohen), Styne, who wrote the music, was born Julius Kerwin Stein in England to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year was written by Edward Pola and George Wyle. Andy Williams—not Jewish—got a huge hit in 1963 with this classic by Pola, a Hungarian Jew born Sidney Edward  Pollacsek, and Wyle, born Bernard Weissman.