At the 30th Anniversary, ten years after the dedication of the second synagogue building, the history of the congregation was read and followed by presentations of Loving Cups to the surviving charter members.
As with the other speeches, this speech was copied more than once in the synagogue’s records. I can’t determine when the first copy is from, as it was inserted amidst pages from 1902. I think it is contemporary given that it has speaker notes in it. The second is probably also contemporary; its notable differences from the former are [marked].
Celebration 30th Anniversary
May 4 – 1924
Introduction by I Grossman Toast Master.
Some people are born great, others achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them[, that I belong to the last class need to be told. You know].
Minister writing sermon, neither I nor the devil knows what I am going to say. I fear I’ll not come up to expectations. I will not be able to do justice to the task before me, for I am a [the kind of] speaker who puts people to sleep. I hope during my discourse you will have pleasant dreams.
I was trying to think of a subject to speak about, Politics, Horseraces, Teapot Dome, and other subjects, finally I thought of some topic always interesting “woman” [“women”] but woman is not a “subject,” they are sovereigns, don’t believe me, ask my wife, or better still ask your own wife.
So? As I can’t find anything to say [speak about] I am going to read the history of the Cong. See page 137. [Page 76]1
Presentation speeches for the children, to charter members.
Freeda Katz
Just like Moses our great teacher
A lot of talking is his feature
When you hear a noise at the meeting
Rest assured ’tis Morris Frankel greeting
Mr Morris Frankel
Sara Hausrath
The man who thinks he knows it all
From Newton’s gravitation to Adam’s fall
Einstein’s theory is for him child’s play
This man is always right in every way
Mr Max Markovitz
Florence Solomon
Bluff the world and all
Is this man’s clarion call
A bluffer of great fame
Jos Fried is his name
Mr Jos Fried
Ruth Hepps
A leader of great ability
Never shirks responsibility
For the Cong he always did his best
May God bless him including all the rest
Mr Jos Lasday2 [Landusky]
Hilda Grinberg
An office holder he is not
A meeting he considers a bad lot
A staunch supporter with his money
His disposition is always [sunny] funny
Mr Sam Markovitz
—
This next section is on a piece of paper pasted in between the pages. It is in a different handwriting from the rest. Given that the child saying this section is the same as the child reciting the poem for B. Hepps (below), does this mean that he is finally getting his due after all the nastiness a decade prior? Or was it directed as Lasdusky, the man Grossman most praised in his other speeches? The language does match the way he praised him in that otherwise nasty speech.
On this pleasant occasion when we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the H H Cong. the cup of your happiness must be full to overflowing. I can hardly hope that your bliss can be increased by the feeble words of a mere child. Anniversaries like these are a sort of guide post on the road of life, pointing the way to happiness for those who are to follow and proceed in the directions indicated. Your junior partners have instructed me to make this speech taking their guide from the proverb “Truth floweth from the lips of children.” In truth, I am told if one person should be selected among the charter members of this Cong. who has worked the hardest to provide a suitable house of worship, and build up the Cong to the plane on which it now stands this one person perhaps is in our mind (?) to this evening. Every sacrifice deserves recognition, deserves a reward, to me has been given the pleasant honor to present this token of esteem on the one who deserve is mostly, Mr . .
Jeannette Fishel
—
Henrietta Greenstein
Methusela’s customs are new to him
He runs around with vigor and vim
Whomever he wishes to please
He gives him snuff to make him sneeze
Mr Morris Fogel
Jeannette Fishel
The Prime Minister so grant (sic)
Who rules with an iron hand
Bismark in his prime
Was never so sublime
Mr B Hepps
I Grossman
Note: The remaining people were not charter members.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Nowhere so busy a man as he there was
And yet he seemed busier than he was
Mark Fishel
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
And still the wonder grew
That one little head could carry all she knew.
Ruth Hepps
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Toiling – rejoicing, sorrowing
Onward through life she goes
Each morning sees her task begin [begun]
Each evening sees its close
Mrs HS Schwartz
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
I am very fond of the Company of this lady, I like her beauty,
I like her delicacy, I like her vivacity, and I like her silence.
Mrs Esther E Grossman3
These pages numbers point to the speech he read at the second cornerstone-laying eleven years prior. ↩
Joseph Lasdusky changed his name to Lasday at some point. ↩
The wife of I. Grossman, whom he considered a nag. ↩