_________________ WANTAGH ________________
HERALD Field Day at Mandalay
Wildfire smoke hits long Island
Patriot dinner coming up
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Vol. 71 No. 25
JUNE 15 - 21, 2023
$1.00
Wantagh-based temple hosts garden party By MIChAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Edwin Chavez/Herald
RABBI DANIEl BAR-NAhUM, far left, with Rona and Bob Kauffman and Susan and Phil Salem. The Kauffmans and Susan Salem are in charge of the Garden at Temple B’Nai Torah.
It all started with a simple question: Can we have a garden like this? When Rona and Bob Kauffman, two members of Wantagh’s Temple B’Nai Torah, attended a class led by Rabbi Daniel Bar-Nahum and the Rev. Mark Genzsler, of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Bellmore, a number of years ago, comparing interfaith scriptures, the subject of the garden at St. Francis came up. Intrigued, the Kauffmans met with Susan Salem, the garden’s creator and
coordinator, and became regular volunteers there, were parishioners grow fresh produce to fight local hunger. Salem and the Kauffmans wanted to bring that effort to Temple B’Nai Torah — which was originally known as Suburban Temple before it merged with Massapequa’s Temple Judea in 2008 and East Meadow’s Temple Emanu-El in 2018. The interest grew stronger when Temple B’Nai Torah brought the temple’s youth group to the St. Francis Garden in 2019 for a Sukkot activity. A year later, B’Nai Torah Continued on page 4
Covid is a memory for many, but veterans still need help By MAlloRY WIlSoN & JoRDAN VAlloNE of the Wantagh Herald
As the nation and world turn the corner on what was one of the deadliest global pandemics to date, one thing hasn’t changed: Many U.S. veterans continue to need support, whether with food, housing, mental health services, or other needs. Gary Glick, the commander of the Department of New York of the Jewish War Veterans — which operates the local Post 652, serving Bellmore, Merrick, East Meadow and several surrounding communities — said he feels the effect of the Covid-19
pandemic on veterans mirrors its powerful impact on people in general. “Covid, I think, did a job on society itself,” Glick said. “It has people thinking. I would say there could be like a half-dozen (veterans) that didn’ t come back (in person). It has dropped the attendance down — a lot of these guys, and I understand, they’re in their 80s, 90s.” The pandemic, Glick added, has contributed to veterans losing touch with one another. “Covid did take a toll on us,”
he said. “Even when we had the Zooms, the older guys — they won’t do it. They lose touch with each other, and that’s another bad thing. The veterans are my brothers. We treat each other as family.” The loss of members takes a considerable toll on posts that are already strapped for attendees. Frank Salamino, the quartermaster for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2736 in East Meadow, is constantly looking for new members, and the pandemic hasn’t helped. Two Post 2736 members died of Covid.
Covid
“We need every member when we can,” Salamino said. “It was a big loss when they died.” Ralph Esposito, director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, said he saw many posts struggling with the same membership issues. “We had a lot of posts, a lot of legions that weren’t able to sustain their membership,” Esposi-
to said. “They had a lot of members who never came back and the posts weren’t making any money because there were no parties keeping them alive. “We lost a lot of vets — a lot passed on, and a lot never went back to their posts.” During the pandemic, American Legion and VFW posts, Continued on page 9