members, and welcomed new members. The reading of the minutes from the

previous meeting were waived.

The Treasurer’s report was given by Rebecca Grohall and accepted by the

membership. The 2003 budget, which appeared in the newsletter, was

 accepted.

The audit committee gave a report that the books are in order.

A report on the Southern Regional Gathering was given. The web site has all

the information on registering . More gifts and prizes are arriving daily.

After the business meeting was adjourned and refreshments served, a

presentation by Jack Skeels was given. Jack discussed how he founded the 

NCC and then signed “Jack’s Umbrella Shop” for the members.

Door Prizes:

-Gingerbread man ornament-Cheryl Amato

-Village Chronicle-Genevieve Alt

-Nov/Dec Village Cap-Bonnie Eicholtz

-10 House Protectors-Nancy Weiler

-Hear Ye, Hear Ye-Josephine Armeno

-25 yr Pen-Genevieve Alt

-Gray Cobblestone Archway-Nancy Weiler

-Stone Corner Posts w/Holly Tree-Dan Layton

-Village Wrought Iron Fence- Elaine Smith

-Xmas Carol CD-Nancy Fernon

-HARLEY D'SON FAT BOY & SOFTAIL-Arlene Geiselman

-Send in the Clowns-Charles Lavarini

-Brite Lites Angel- Cheryl Amato

-Dedlock Arms Ornament- John Tavernia

Raffle Prizes:

-One NCC Under the Umbrella Red-Joan Meneghelli

-Bright Lights Xmas Tree-Bernie Striegel

-4 candles brite lite- Charles Lavarini

-dragon brite lite-Chris Barrett

-DISPLAY MANIA- Pat Piccin

-William S. Burg- Chet Rosenbaum

-1yr subscription to the Village Chronicle-Pat Piccin

-$25 Gift Certificate from Warrick’s-Bill Shields

-Hedgrow Garden Cottage- Norm Barrett

-Jacks Umbrella Shop (signed)- Guenther Heil

CAN FOOD DRIVE

A reminder to all that the monthly Can Food Drive will continue at each

meeting. The collection of food will be taken to the Broward County Food

Bank. Please bring your contribution to the meeting. Items that can be

used as a meal, such as, soups, ravioli, spaghetti o’s, chili, are requested

and with pop top containers if available. Thank you for your contribution.

Carol Sellers

D56'S NEW HISTORICAL LANDMARK PIECE - CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE

By Philip Gold

Department 56 has introduced another fabulous piece of National and New York

Historic Landmarks. Central Synagogue is also a break from their traditional

Christian places of worship. The Synagogue is located at 652 Lexington

Avenue, (The corner of 55th and Lexington), in New York City, should you like

to visit or just locate it.

Friday afternoon August 28, 1998 a fire devastated Central Synagogue. It was

determined that a workman's torch started the fire while installing

air-conditioning. The hoses sprayed water through the stained glass windows.

The stenciled walls and interior woodwork were heavily damaged. The roof

caved in. Still standing above the ruins was the ark that holds the Torah

scrolls. The scrolls were previously removed for the renovation. Rabbi

Rubinstein saved other sacred scrolls from a display cabinet, secreted away

by Jews during the Holocaust.

The damage was estimated at $51 million in restoration. The Synagogue

reopened in September of 2002.

The Temple has 4,000 members. During restoration it is estimated the

membership grew by 300 to 400 households. It is one of the nation's leading

Reform congregations.

It is the oldest Temple in continual use in N.Y. State. The Reform

congregation that built the Synagogue can be traced to 1839. The original

membership was immigrants from Prague and nearby regions of Bohemia. The

designer, Henry Fernbach emigrated to the U.S. in 1849 from Germany. He is

known to be the first Jewish architect in the U.S. to design a place of

worship for 2000 worshipers. Central Synagogue was constructed from 1870

to1872. The design is called "Moorish-Islamic Revival". Moorish comes from

Muslim Spain.

The original name was Ahawath Chesed renamed in 1920 to Central Synagogue.

The two octagonal towers are 122 feet high reminiscences of Solomon's Temple.

The tops are green copper domes. In the center is a large rose window.

Inside are 148 pews. The first 12 are movable for small services and events.

The last three rows and the first two on the north end also are movable and

designed for High Holy Day services. The foyer is made of 4,000 square feet

of encaustic and quarry tile flooring containing 40,000 tiles. 32,000 of the

original English made tiles were cleaned. The restoration of the interior was

made to resemble the original designs. See

http://newyork.construction.com/NYCN/Bestof2001/CentralSynagogue.html for

amazing detail of the construction.

The only interior photograph depicts traditional pews to the sides of the

center of the temple. Adorned arches are over the side pews. This is typical

of the Orthodox Temple I attended as a young man. In the Orthodox Synagogue

the men sit in the center facing east and the women sit in the side pews. The

arc is under an arch of Morish-Islamic design.

It now has Internet video streaming for remote broadcast and a modern sound

system. The Temple also contains a 4345-pipe organ was built by Casavant

Freres. It has a portable front Bimah console and a four-manual Gallery

console. Essentially it is two organs in one. They contain 55 stops and 74

ranks! (The Bimah is used by the Rabbi to read the Torah scrolls from. It is

raised so that the congregation can see the Rabbi and he can see them).

The clergy is Peter J. Rubinstein, Senior Rabbi; Sarah H. Reines, Rabbi; Ruth

A. Zlotnick, Assistant; Rabbi; Ida Rae Cahana, Cantor; Livia D. Thompson,

Executive Director; and Saul Kaiserman, Director of Education. Welcome to the

new age.

Some of the information was gathered from the internet at

www.centralsynagogue.org

Many other WEB pages are available on line.

UPCOMING EVENT

Feb 16 VILLAGE LANDLORD MEETING

Jim Lowson as guest speaker

Mar 14-16 2003 Mid-Atlantic Village Gathering

www.MAVG.ogr

Mar 23 VILLAGE LANDLORD MEETING

Apl 8 VILLAGE LANDLORD BR MEETING

Apl 12 Mississippi (Gautier) Gathering By The Gulf

228-762-4418

Apl 27 VILLAGE LANDLORD MEETING

Jun 10 VILLAGE LANDLORD BR MEETING

Jun 22 VILLAGE LANDLORD MEETING

Jul31 Southern Regional Gathering 2003

-Aug3 Deerfield Beach, Fl Hilton Hotel

954-427-7700

1-800-445-8667

www.srg2003.com

Sep 18-20 Michigan Gathering in Frankenmuth, MI

734-878-3976

Oct 11-13 California (San Francisco) Golden Gate Gathering

www.goldengategathering.com

Apl 22-25 Holiday Inn Chicago-O'Hare International

2004 (847) 671-6350 , After May 1, 1-800-Holiday