A statement made by a person that I think has gotten more than enough publicity started me doing some research as well as some reflection. The link in the Title is to a book I read a while ago that comes to mind, that I recommend O' Brien's Desk it's an interesting book that takes real historical events/people from Toledo and intertwines that into a Mystery book.
One of the primary characters in the book is Sara Kaufman
In 1905 she began volunteering at a settlement house run by the Toledo Council of Jewish Women. Sara worked for 31 years as a juvenile court probation officer starting in 1909. She is quoted as believing "there are no bad children; only misunderstood children". She was also was president of Hadassah, and involved in The Toledo Federation of Jewish Charities, the Jewish Educational League, The Progress Club, The Jewish Shelter Home, the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society and the Young People's Hebrew Society. Sara Kaufman died in 1941 and was inducted into the Toledo Civic Hall of Fame in 2004 for her valuable years spent volunteering.
Toledo's Jewish Community has a long history in Toledo. B'nai Israel, Toledo's oldest synagogue was formed in 1866, but there were Jewish residents of Toledo even prior to 1837. The first record of a Jewish public religious service our area was held in Gitskey Hall during the High Holy Days of 1863.
According to the B'nai Israel website the Toledo area has a Jewish community of approximately 6000. There are three Temples B'nai Israel which is Conservative; Congregation Etz Chayim which is Orthodox; and Congregation Shomer Emunim a Reform synagogue.
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23 comments:
Boy, does that make Janesville look bad. I know we're a lot smaller but...
There was this multi-cultural awareness meeting that took place, oh, about three years ago. We had to "import" people from the Chicago area and the Milwaukee area to cover the Muslim and the Jewish (respectively) side of our multi-cultural awareness.
It was altogether disappointing, since the Muslim woman who spoke used to be a Baptist minister. Not that this in and of itself was disappointing, but of all the Muslims in the surrounding area, they could only recruit one who had been a Christian. Aside from the speakers, my husband and I were probably the most "diverse" people there, my husband being one of two males in attendance and both of being LDS.
Diversity and multi-culturalism isn't something we do very well around here. I'm glad Toledo does it better.
Sorry, reading back over that it doesn't seem the least bit on topic.
Actually to me that is on topic, Toledo also has a very active muslim population with a very beautiful mosque.
Sides Stephanie, you know I'm cool with anyone commenting their own personal input into something I write. It's what makes this blog work so well.
Here
This website has a small picture of the mosque, I remember when they were building it.
:-)
Wow! That's in Toledo? It's beautiful!
I wasn't aware that mosques like that were even being built in this country. All the American mosques I've seen have been just like Christian churches, without the predominance of the crosses.
Oh, and that made me think of something else.
My husband's and my doctor is of obvious Middle Eastern descent. Last time he was there my husband asked where he was from. The answer: Toledo!
Yeppers, that is right off of the highway not far from me and it is amazing. I've been on a tour inside of it after it was built.
Toledo is an interesting place to live you have the older heritages that have been here since the beginning and then other religions/heritages that have grown here as well.
How far are you from Toledo?
Janesville, Wisconsin. My guess would be two days travel by vehicle, time twos for my family...
So, way too far!
Going for a two hour drive to visit my in-laws is an adventure that entails exhaustion.
Well if I ever head up that way it would be easier for me - mine are older.
:-)
Yes, it would! Just let me know, and you'll be sure to have a place to stay!
Janesville doesn't have a whole lot of tourism to offer, but we have an award winning rotary gardens here that's a pleasure to walk through. It'd make a peaceful stop between Toledo and wherever you were headed!
:-)
I'd come to see you and I'm sure we'd have a blast.
I've met a few people thru out the years that I talk to online (on top of marrying one - lol long story for another day) I try to take a vacation every so often where I drive and I have a few people in Minnesota I want to meet so that would be a possible combination "meet Lisa tour"
:-)
Sounds like a great idea to me! Just let me know when, and I'll have everything ready!
Though, I do suggest we come up with something better than "two days" as a guide. Where abouts in Minnesota will you be headed?
St. Paul area is where they both are. I usually do it in the summer. My ex-husband takes my youngest for between two to three weeks and that is my Lisa time. Part of it I use for me to be able to do what I would normally not do if I had to be a responsible parent.
It took me a while to get used to it but I've decided there are some advantages to a divorce situation . Especially when I got remarried.
:-)
This last summer he didn't take her and I didn't realize how much I had come to enjoy that time till then. Granted he takes her every other weekend but despite my inital mom despair when it started when all my five were younger I didn't realize how much I appreciated that small break until it didn't happen.
(Yes, I can make a bright spot out of most everything including a divorce)
:-)
St. Paul would be a fairly easy go from here. Between my Mom and Dad, and my own recollection, we could pretty much guarantee you a good route with plenty of tried-and-true pit-stops on the way. Though, it would require my parents not realizing the other was involved, i.e. the divorce situation.
As far as the kids part goes, there was a while where I envied my step-son's mom on those grounds. My husband and I have our kids full-time, but my step-son's mom loves to use us as the safety net whenever Brandon gets "inconvienent." We don't mind, except for the part where we have to answer the question "Why doesn't Mommy want me over there?" That part just pisses me off.
It took me realizing that I didn't want the "freedom" to do what she was doing to get over that. And I guarantee you it was not the innocence of an occasional road trip. Alas, I'm on the verge of climbing up on a soapbox (and to an audience I know is in agreement), so I'll stop now.
Hey, even a divorce (or other break-up) can have an up-side! For my husband, it's not being called dingy all the time (that for being creative) and being with someone who takes fidelity seriously!
Poor Stephanie...I feel for you, it would be awesome if you had a responsible ex that gave you some free time. You are going thru what I did in my first marriage. I was the one who had not only custody of my stepson but my stepdaughter whenever her mother didn't feel like being a parent which was often.
Mine are older now so for me it's easier now that my youngest is 11 and her next oldest sibling is 16. Your freedom days will come. However for now? You are doing something very awesome, being there for those kids.
Maybe that's part of the reason we connect so well I've been close to where you are now. My ex-husband is a jerk at times and does not pay anywhere near what he should in support but at least he does try to have a relationship with my youngest. (My 16 year old and my 20 year old that he adopted will have nothing to do with him - his own fault) I have a feeling he will probably mess up his relationship with the 11 year old unless he finally learns from his mistakes but? For now? At least I know he will do a decent job during his visitation and I know despite it all that he does love his children.
We are finally to the point where he will actually admit to me when he is wrong, but that took a long time. Life is much easier now that he is at least trying to be an active partner.
My ex was not only abusive to me physically but had the same problem with the concept of fidelity.
He also being not such a very nice person when I was planning on getting remarried tried to tell the court that my future husband was some type of child molester (which of course was not even remotely true) He even tried to make the fact we met on the internet an issue to the point that the case became local news. Thankfully the judge threw the whole case out and told my ex he was lucky that he was not charged with contempt of court. My ex had the most expensive divorce lawyer in Toledo and I had legal aid...it was a mess. The hell I have gone thru financially as well as my poor husband who has carried a heck of alot of weight in supporting children that were not even his could fill up a whole blog. But? My main focus has always been on not involving the kids in this nightmare. If they decide they don't want a relationship with their father it will be because of what he has done to them not because of me.
Hard to do but something I've promised myself I'd pull off.
The hardest part for me was the first few years in my marriage where my husband felt so guilty about "leaving" his first son's mother (though, in reality, that wasn't the way it happened at all), that he kept trying to come up with ways to be there for both of us. It wasn't until we'd lived in the same city as her for a year before he realized, in his own words, "that if [he'd] married that woman [he'd] have killed her by now." And I was thinking "What have I been telling you!?!"
It's much better now. Now, her mother is even on our side most of the time. Unless, of course, we bring up the "Well, if he's such a burden, you could give custody of Brandon to us..."
Though, I suspect Kim won't come to the realization your ex has. She has a grown son who should have taught her that, and instead she continues to make excuses for the both of them.
Now, the hardest part is clinging to my self-control long enough not to sock her when she calls him a "sh**head."
I suspect you're doing much better with that than you give yourself credit for. I know with myself it's walking a fine line, as per my own parents. My father was never physically abusive in front of us, and the verbal abuse was so common place we didn't even see it until we were adults.
My mom waited a long time before divorcing my dad, and it was hard on all of us. My brother was living with my father and my mother moved to where my husband and I were. They both swore they wouldn't drag us into it, but consistently did so, though they couldn't see it.
For myself, the way I handle having a relationship with my father is by remembering that honoring one's parents isn't about honoring what they do or don't do, it's about honoring the fact that they gave you life and supported you. It's the same mentality I used to get up the resolve necessary to see my grandfather one last time before he died. It's hard, but in the end you feel better for keeping up "your end of the bargain."
That is hard for you, there are times when the non-custodial parent should have custody. Thankfully though my ex tried he was not even given joint custody - I have sole custody and he only has visitation. I give him more than what he is legally entitled to but not necessarily for him, for the girls. It's stupid of the court to be biased towards the mother because sometimes the father is the better parent of the two to have sole custody. It should not automatically be a given that the mother is the best parent. Yet our court system is painfully slow in realizing that.
Well, at the time, my husband didn't have his life straightened out yet. But having a child shocked him out of his self-absorbtion and he changed. She didn't, still hasn't. Unfortunately, changing the circumstances, without Kim's cooperation, would cost thousands of dollars we don't have. Until our financial situation changes, we can't do anything, even though her financial situation is worse.
We were close once, when the cops decided (without going through the courts) that it was in Brandon's best interests for him to stay with us. The pro-se lawyer thought we had a case, until she discovered we hadn't been paying child support for the last two months. It didn't matter that he'd been living with us for six months, we were still under a court order to pay support. She tried going around that by reporting that Kim had been collecting foodstamps and MA, even though Brandon wasn't living with her or being supported by her, but it back-fired and Kim took Brandon back and there wasn't anything we could do about it.
Though, she was wise enough to keep him away from the person who'd required the cops to be involved in the first place, because if she hadn't laws, cops and lawyers would not have been enough to keep my husband from taking Brandon back by force.
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